Memoro de la Stono
by KyraEnsui
Summary: With renewed focus and determination, the Paladins have found clues and leads of Pidge's missing family and possibility Shiro . While Prince Lotor set an enteric plan in motion to capture the Red Paladin. [Part 2 of Distant Worlds series]
1. A head start

**Author's note:** Hello everyone! Part 2 for Distant Worlds series!

I hope everyone has read Part 1 before coming here since it was the prequel. Without further ado, here's chapter 1! Enjoy!

* * *

Keith took a long, deep breath and exhaled as his fingers wiggled on both control handles with his eyes closed.

"Patience yields focus." as he whispered to himself.

Opening his eyes slowly, he stared straight at the screens and kept his arms straight and relaxed.

"Okay guys, let's form Voltron."

"YEAH!"

* * *

"Oh man! PHEEEEEEEEEEEW!" as Lance took off his helmet and graciously plopped himself on the couch. "We finally did it! We finally formed Voltron!"

Pidge sat across from Lance and crossed her legs up on the couch with Allura sitting next to her. Keith and Hunk sat close to Lance with Hunk next to him.

"We did it, Paladins." as Allura stretched out her arms up.

"You're a Paladin too, Princess. You can't forget that." with Hunk pointing out.

Allura chuckled. "You're right, Hunk."

"Well, at least, Lance didn't get ejected out this time. I guess you finally found a common ground with Red." with Pidge placing both hands on her knee.

"Hey now. I wasn't the only one who had issues. Right Keith?"

Keith sat back with his hands behind his head. "We all did well in coming together. This will keep the Galra Empire in check."

"Speaking of the Galra Empire," as Pidge looked over at Allura. "did Coran been able to find out any information about who's in charge?"

"We haven't received any messages from Kolivan yet. He will let us know once he makes contact with the other members."

"Do you think that Zarkon has a child that we didn't know of?" Lance asked.

"Oh man. Zarkon? Him with a son? That's hard to believe! I mean, he's the baddest evil in the universe! How can any female want to be with Zarkon and let alone have a child? It's so weird." as Hunk twiddled his fingers.

"Anything's possible, Hunk. We just have to deal with it, but without a single information about our new enemy, we are going blind in what we're dealing with." with Keith staring up at the ceiling.

"Are you still thinking about the last few encounters, Keith?" Allura asked.

"Yeah. It didn't seem right. It was like they're just observing us and waiting for the right time to strike."

"Well, they could taken us when we're still in a mess." as Lance mentioned.

Keith shook his head as he leaned forward with his arms rested and crossed above his knee. "They might not know about Shiro's disappearance nor our change-up. Whoever is in charge knew to proceed with caution, observe us in battle, find out our weakness and then strike us down with our lowest defense."

"Keith's right. We have to stay alert and prepare when they do strike. They have the advantage over us."

Lance let out a deep sigh and stood up quick with his hands on his waist. "For now, let's relax and refresh ourselves after that training. We all deserve one."

"Lance's right!" as the loud voice echoed in their room with Lance yelping.

"Princess! The Castle picked up the Planet Pessinus. It seems we are in the Phrygia system." as Coran spoke.

"I haven't been there for so long!" as Allura looked at the team. "Planet Pessinus is known as a relaxation retreat! It has wonderful hot baths and other activities."

"Really?! We should go there and treat ourselves!" as Lance immediately looked at Keith. "What do you say, our fearless leader?"

Keith shrugged and leaned back. He didn't want to look at anyone right now because he knew what to expect. He really didn't want to see it, but the moment he saw those glittering puppy eyes from all of them, he knew he was outmatched and outnumbered.

He sighed in defeat, but smiled. "Coran, set our course to Planet Pessinus."

"WOO HOO!" as he watched his teammates jumped in joy and smiling happily.

* * *

"Coran, who's looking after the Castle?" Lance asked while soaking half of his bare body in the hot water.

"Slav. But Keith is keeping watch too. He told me to enjoy too." as Coran tested the water's temperature with his big toe before stepping in with the others.

"That's Keith. Us before him." as Hunk placed a folded towel over his head.

Lance crossed his arms. "That Mullet. Always the lone wolf."

"Awww. Is the poor Lance missing his other half~~" with Pidge's voice heard over the wooden screen wall.

The wooden barrier separated the male and female only hot baths and anyone trying to peek over will get a shocking surprise. They only knew about it when Lance tried to peek over and the moment he touched it, he got a small shock.

"Shut up, Pidge! It's not like that!" as Lance shouted over.

Allura chuckled. "I believe most of us know, Lance. Well, except for Keith."

"Oh? Our Blue Paladin is smitten with the leader? This is interesting." as Coran playfully pulled his mustache. "I can tell you the Altean art of courtship and-"

"No Coran. Please don't." as Lance held up his hand. "How the hell you all know about this?!"

"Yellow."

"Green."

"Blue."

Lance grumbled. Who knew the Lions can gossip like them? He's going to make mental note of not spilling too much with Blue. He knew it was her.

Blue gave an apologetic purr to him.

Lance smiled and shook his head. _Next time, Blue, try not to gossip so much._

He could of swore he heard not only an amusing purr from Blue, but a snickering growl from Red.

"I can give you one advice as a friend, Lance. When the time is right, you'll know when to confess. It's better to let him know sooner than later." as Hunk placed his arm on Lance's shoulder.

"I know, buddy. But he has too much things going on in his mind that I don't want it to be a burden." as Lance slid further in the water, up to his neck.

"Keith once told me that it's better to tell straight to his face instead of beating around the bush." as Pidge adjusted her fogged up glasses. "Keith is good at many things, but one thing he lacks is love."

Allura looked at her. "What do you mean by that, Pidge?"

She sighed and turned herself over as she leaned part of her body over the edge of the bath. Allura walked over to her side and mimicked her position.

"To make long story short for Keith, he was orphaned at a young age. After his parents died, he felt lost in his life until he met Shiro." as Pidge scratches her head. "I'm not good at this sentimental talk, but what I'm saying that Keith is still learning along the way. And the one thing he wasn't able to learn is being love. Not like brotherly love with Shiro nor friendship love that he has with us. But the love-love kind."

"What Pidge was trying to say, Lance, is that you should take baby steps with Keith. Right now, you're confused with your own conflicted feelings so it's better to take it steady." as Hunk patted Lance's head.

"Thanks guys. Never thought I would hear something non-technical from Pidge. That surprises me!"

Pidge grumbled to herself and blew a raspberry at Lance's direction.

* * *

"Baby steps, huh. Maybe I should. Just like how we formed our new bond..." Lance paused and glared at the ceiling. "Honestly Red, I'm not going to-"

"Going to what, Lance?" as Lance took a jump back while holding onto his dark blue robe.

He pointed at Keith. "Will you stop sneaking up on people?!"

Keith raised a brow. "You were busy glaring at the ceiling to see me coming. Talking to Red?"

"Yeah, I was talking to Red. She thought I was going to-" as he paused. _take you away from her._ "give her a good rub down! Yeah! I was going to give her a good rub down on her armor."

He gave a nervous laugh while giving a mental glare at Red. Honestly, Red will be the death of him because of Keith.

"Didn't you do that not too long ago?"

Lance gave a loud chuckle. "Well, look at the time. Try not to stay too long in the hot bath. Coran almost fainted!"

He walked off in a haste mode while Keith blinked and watched Lance leave. He shrugged and walked towards one of the unoccupied hot baths.

Lance stopped at the corner of the hallway and set his back on the wall while sliding down to the floor.

"Well, that was quite embarrassing." as he mumbled to himself.

Usually he would banter or tease Keith whenever he decided to come out, but this time, he felt surprised and uneasy. It didn't helped that Keith looked slightly different wearing a blue robe. He knew Keith looked good in red, but he looked beautiful in blue as it compliment his porcelain-colored skin tone.

Lance groaned as he slapped his forehead. "I think I got it bad now."

* * *

Keith gave a relaxing sigh and leaned back on the rocky edge as he looked up the open sky. It was beautiful with crystal clear stars shining bright. He closed his eyes and let his troubled mind melt away like his sore muscles. He was about to slip into blissful state when he heard someone walking in and getting into the water.

He watched as the person (he thinks it is based on the skin tone, but the pointed ears) slipped into the water and walked towards the opposite end of where he is. He doubled blink when he saw those shimmering white hair was in a short ponytail with parts of its hair rolled in a bun at the base. Keith gulped as he could see back of those exposed creamy tan-colored neck and shoulder.

He wasn't sure if this was a male or female. If it was a female, then he was totally screwed.

"Umm... Excuse me, but are you in the right place?" as he asked nervously. "I thought this was for male only?"

He didn't want to feel like one of those perps who sneak into female's spot to see their naked skin. He felt his skin jumped as he heard a low chuckle. A soft male chuckle.

"I've get this often when I'm here. Don't worry. I'm a pure male, just like you." as the male turned around.

Keith felt his breath hitched. He hadn't seen anyone with an ethereal beauty as the one in front of him. His eyes were like those mythical dragon, with those powerful and dark obsidian-colored eyes. Muscular jawline similar to Shiro's.

Those pointed ears are similar to Allura's and Coran's. _Is he Altean also?_

He didn't know how long he has been staring at the stranger until another chuckle filled the open air.

"I see you enjoyed a different view beside the stars."

Keith coughed and gave a low bow. "I apologize for my rudeness."

The stranger smiled. "Apology accepted. May I have the honor of knowing your name?"

"Keith. My name is Keith."

"Pleased to meet you, Keith. Sincline is my name. If you don't mind I ask, what kind of specie are you?" as he moved closer towards Keith and stopping a few inches away on his right side.

"Human." _And part Galra._ He wasn't going to tell him that other piece of information.

Sincline's eyes gazed up and down on Keith's partially exposed body and smiled. "You are quite an exotic creature."

"Wait what?" Keith was speechless. _Did he just called me an exotic creature?_ "Uhh.. Thank you?"

He laughed and moved closer to Keith until they are only an inch apart as he placed the back of his fingers on Keith's now rosy cheek and caressing it.

"Has anyone tell you that before?"

"No, but-" his voice hitched when he felt those cold fingers caressing along his neckline and going underneath his chin as his head went in a backward tilt.

"Tell me more about your lovely self." as he wrapped his free arm around Keith's slim waist and pulling him close to his own muscle toned body.

He pulled Keith's face closer with their lips only a millimeter part of a feathery touch. "What are you really?"

Keith's mind was in a foggy haze with Sincline's touches on his weakened body. It felt his energy was sapped out of him. He felt too relaxed and numb right now.

"Red Paladin." He whispered. "I pilot the Black Lion right now."

"Why is that?" as Sincline leaned closer to Keith's ear and whispered.

He gave a quick teasing lick inside of Keith's ear which he was rewarded with a nice shiver from him.

"Because-" as he pushed Sincline away harsh and sudden. Keith shook his head and stared at the man. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push you hard. It's getting late so I've gotta go. Have a good night, Sincline."

As Keith got out of the bath in such haste, bow at the man and left immediately out the door. He ran far as he can until he stopped near the corner of the hallway and leaned back on the wall while catching his breath.

 _Thanks for saving me, Black. I almost lost myself there._

Black purred with much concern.

 _I know. I will be careful next time._

Keith regained his composure and walked towards to the hidden location of the Castle. He wasn't going to tell the others about this awkward encounter yet. There was something about Sincline that he can't put his mind on. It felt like he has met him before, but where?

 _Alright alright, Black. I will stop thinking and get some rest. But thank you again._

Keith chuckled. _Thanks for handling Red too._

With grace, Sincline got out of the bath as he released his tied hair while shaking his head with his eyes closed. Once opened, his eyes became yellow and his skin tone changed from cream tan to purple. His blunt fingers became pointy as he combed back his white locks.

He stared at the door where his prey has left in such haste. A wicked smile etched on his face.

 _It was a pleasure to see you again Keith, my exotic Red Paladin._

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! ;3**_

 _ **Side note:** Sincline is another name for Lotor from the GoLion series. As for the planets I will be introducing later in the chapters, I am using Roman mythology as my source._


	2. Start Downfall

**Author's Note:** This chapter came out longer than expected! Wikipedia is my buddy as I had to think of names for planets and race. I am using Greek mythology in this chapter and next few chapters!

Some Klance cute interaction and per usual, Lotor is just plain evil.

* * *

Haggar watched and monitored the flowing quintessences in the tubes that connected to her laying Emperor. She had to save Zarkon immediately after battle when Voltron got disbanded and retreated. His unhealthy ambition to take the Black Lion blinded his judgement and hence, the downfall of the Emperor. The Empire cannot operate without a ruler so it forced Haggar to summon Prince Lotor back.

He was supposed to conquer a certain planet when he just vanished from radar. No one knew what happened to him until several vargas later, they found out. The planet he was conquering was destroyed by the Weblum and most believe he died with the planet. What became a rumor was only a partial truth.

Zarkon's son survived the Weblum's attack, but instead, he was imprisoned inside the creature until he was released. When Prince Lotor arrived at the Command Center, he immediately asked her about the Paladins, but he was most interested with the Red Paladin. She didn't care much about the other Paladins except for Black since the Champion was her best subject.

The first order from the Prince was restoration of the Command Center and have the Galra fleets across the galaxy to engage and capture Voltron. But his second order was more of a personal fascination to find out more about the Red Paladin. To decide if he wanted to pursue him or not.

Haggar was ordered to investigate about the Red Paladin so she summoned her Druids to gather all known data and information from several places that Voltron has infiltrated. She expected to find some disappointing information about the Red Paladin so that the Prince can concentrate on taking down Voltron and conquering the universe.

She was wrong.

The more information she received from her Druids, the more her interest peaked. She knew the Paladins were fledglings and same human race as the Champion, but it seems the Red Paladin was quite different.

He had Galra blood. There was no way he could access their systems unless he was like their former Champion who had their signature quintessence imprinted in his mechanical arm. This was by his own flesh hand. However, when one of her Druids came up and showed her the memory of its battle with the Red Paladin at one of their secret quintessence factory, Haggar knew this one was a hybrid like Prince Lotor.

Human flesh cannot withstand the contact of raw quintessence. It would melt their skin like hot magma. Haggar knew when she experimented on the Champion with his arm.

Unlike Lotor who has the physical Galra feature with some Altean aspects like his hair and ears, this one kept his human appearance. She has her suspicion, but she needed the Red Paladin here to confirm her theory.

To see if he has the Altean blood in him. It is a well-known knowledge that the Altean race has the chameleon-like ability.

When she informed her findings to the Prince, she saw his ambition in those golden orbs, just like his father, when they want to obtain something. Emperor Zarkon wanted the Black Lion back in his grasp. For Prince Lotor, he wanted the Red Paladin. To either have him serve the Empire or become the Prince's personal amusement.

Haggar leaned towards for his personal amusement since he was quite known to have his own harem. But if the Red Paladin refuse to serve under them (which she knows that he will), then she would have her own quality time with him as long he survives and then return him to Prince Lotor. She smirked as she knew the Prince enjoys to play gentle before revealing his true color.

She watched Prince Lotor, who had a smile on, walking into the room and stood next to her while keeping his gaze at his Father.

"Prince Lotor, I can see you are in good spirit despite in your Father's presence."

"You said so yourself, Haggar. He will not wake anytime soon. Father was heavily injured, both mentally and physically by the very weapon he wished to obtain."

Haggar lowered her head. "How was your meeting with the Red Paladin?"

Lotor gave a quick glance at Haggar and back at his Father's fallen form. "You said the Champion piloted the Black Lion, did you not?"

"Yes Prince Lotor. He was the Black Paladin."

"Do you wish to have the Champion back, Haggar?"

She looked up with slight confusion. "He has slipped through my grasp last time."

"I heard something interesting from my prey's sweet mouth."

He turned his body and focus to Haggar with his arms behind his back as he walked towards her. He leaned down close to her ear and whispered. "The Red Paladin currently pilots the Black Lion."

 _Impossible!_ As Haggar's eyes widen and looked at Lotor quick when he stood up straight with his knowing smile.

"That's impossible! How can this happened?! Your Father lost his connection with the Black Lion against the Champion and now, it has chosen a different pilot."

Lotor just shrugged and turned his back on her. "It seems we are not the only one who had suffered a loss from the last battle."

"What are your plans, Prince Lotor?"

"The plan is already in motion, Haggar." He smiled and walked towards the exit, but stopped at the threshold when he glanced over his shoulder. "We will deal with the annoying rebellion pests first before I can claim my enchanting prey, _Keith_. Who knew my little personal fascination with the Red Paladin has its benefits for our Empire."

He laughed wickedly as the door closed when he stepped out, leaving Haggar alone in the room. Lotor knew he got Haggar within his fingers once he laid out some of his cards as she would take care of dealing with his least important agenda such as Voltron and that annoying rebellion group.

It wasn't the Blade of Marmora, but another group led by someone unknown with power, but he had his own suspicion of who it is.

He just need to dangle a perfect bait to lure them out and he knows perfectly what to use.

* * *

"ACHOO!" as he shook his head while his whole body came down with cold shivers.

"Are you okay, buddy? You're not sick, are you?" Lance asked as he handed Keith a tissue.

"No, I don't think so." as Keith took the tissue and wiped his nose.

"Maybe someone was talking good about you behind your back?"

"I hope so, but with a cold shiver too? It felt like it has double meaning." as Keith took a sip of his drink pouch.

Lance shrugged. "Oh? So you want to say that there's someone out there who was talking good about you and yet, have bad intentions?"

Keith nodded.

Lance blinked and laughed while holding his stomach. "Really Keith? Sorry buddy, but who wants a temperamental person with an emo personality?"

Keith huffed and turned his back on Lance while drinking. Lance wiped away his build-up tears and watched Keith's back side with slight admiration. Lance knew what he said earlier was harsh, but it was in fun intention.

To be honest, Lance wanted to admit to Keith that he liked him the way he is now and was before.

Before, Keith would been unbearable to be with since the Garrison days. Lance would constantly hear their instructors, especially Iverson, about how Keith was the best cadet (beside Shiro) before his drop-out. He hated being compare to him since it hurt his self-esteem and pride. He wanted to beat Keith in everything he do so people can recognize his own skill.

And now, he felt his rivalry with Keith has subdue with every missions they accomplished together. With every challenging obstacles, they had each other's backs, minus that one particular day during team bonding simulation in their early beginnings.

But he was terrified how Keith would react if he did confess. It terrified him when he found out about his own feeling. He did not expect to fall for his own teammate. A male teammate, nonetheless.

His mother once told him that it doesn't make him less than a person to love another if that person was the same sex. It shows how love was not picky in choosing, but only the mind that causes the confusion. He wondered if his mother would approve his decision.

Lance was so lost in his thought that he didn't saw a hand waving in front of his face until he felt someone pinching his nose closed. He gave a slight snort while swatting the offending hand and rubbed his nose with both of his index fingers.

"What gives?"

"You spaced out like an idiot. Coran just called us to be on the bridge now. It seems the Castle picked up something on the scanner."

"Oh." as Lance paused his rubbing. "Hey Keith, can I ask you something personal?"

Keith quirked his brow. "It depends. What is it?"

Lance took a deep breath and exhaled. "Have you ever fallen for someone before?"

Keith blinked three times. _What?_

"Forget I asked." as Lance raised his hands in surrender. "Ah, we should hurry to the bridge. We can't let the others wait long!"

He dashed out quick like a mouse being chased by a cat.

Keith cocked his head. "What the hell was that about?"

He could hear Black's reassurance and yet, Red's groaning growl in his mind. Keith sighed as he followed Lance's fainting trail to the bridge. He will have to corner Lance one of these days to find out what's wrong with him. Just when he thought he got through Lance, he was thrown in another loop and he just don't seem to understand right now.

 _Why did he asked if I had fallen for someone? Is he talking about love? Cuz I have no clue and no time to ponder about it._

Keith paused in his steps and touched his right ear. He could still feel those lingering phantom touches on his body. He really, really did not understand Sincline's intentions nor the physical attraction he has on him.

 _We never met before and yet, I've let him in my personal space beside Shiro. I let my guard down too much._

 _But who is he and why he asked me those questions? Why did I even answer?_

He was lucky that Black came to pull his sense back, but it was Red's roar that helped clear his hazy mind. He was very confused. He would talk to Shiro about his problem, but he's gone. Keith didn't know who he could turn to.

 _This leadership thing is very draining and demanding.._

He sighed as he resumed his walk to the bridge.

* * *

"It could be a trap. Why would they leave an abandon Galra cargo ship in the middle of nowhere?" as Pidge mentioned.

Everyone minus Slav are on the bridge and looking at the map of the vast galaxies.

With his arms crossed, Keith spoke up. "But it is worth a shot to find out any clues about the Empire's intention. Pidge, you and I will go in the Green Lion and check it out."

"It could be a trap as Pidge mentioned earlier. Keith, you should let one of us go with Pidge instead." as Allura spoke with concern.

"I know, Princess. But," as Keith held up one hand and staring at it. "I can access their system quicker without detection. I need you and Hunk stay behind in the castle just in case."

Keith walked up to Allura and placed his hand on her shoulder. "I am not saying this because you're the Princess that needs protection, but as a fellow teammate, I need you be our support if anything gets past us and Lance."

She nodded.

He looked over her and at Lance who was standing behind Allura. "Lance, I need you with Red to guard the Green Lion when we're inside. Watch out for any surprises."

"Gotcha, buddy." as Lance gave a thumbs up.

"I still don't like it, but it's something to go with knowing how little clues we have for anything." Hunk said.

"I understand Hunk, but it's the risk we have to take. Okay team, suit up and roll out."

* * *

"Have you found anything, Pidge?" Keith asked through his communication from his helmet.

"Not yet, Keith. I'm downloading the encrypted data so I can analyze them back in the Castle." as her fingers furiously typing away on her laptop. "Just need a few more ticks for download to finish. How about your end?"

Keith looked around the dim-lighted hallway with his bayard ready. "Nothing so far. It just stinks down here. Lance, Allura, how about your ends?"

"Nothing picked up in the surrounding area by the scanner." Allura responded.

"Same here, Keith." as Lance responded with his eyes looking around. "Red hasn't picked up anything either."

"Stay alert. I believe I have two more rooms to go before heading back. Pidge, let me know when you're done."

"Gotcha!"

Keith was finished inspecting the room he was in and was heading towards the last one near the end of the hallway. He really didn't like the musky smell that lingered throughout his search. He wondered what this Galra ship was holding as he carefully leaned back on the wall near the pad and placed his hand on it. It beeped and turned green when the door swooshed open and he finally found the source of the smell.

He took slow steps towards the entrance and was disgusted at sight and turned around quick with his mouth covered and his eyes widen with horror. He coughed loudly and erratically as he placed his hand immediately on the pad to close it. He cannot handle it anymore. It was too much to swallow.

"Keith? Are you okay?! What happened, buddy?"

He could hear Lance's panic voice through his communication and took several deep breaths. More concern voices heard and stood up straight with his right hand placed on his ear.

 _What the hell was going on in this ship?_

"I'm okay, guys." as he took another breathing. "Can you repeat what you said, Pidge? Everyone was calling me all at once."

He could hear Pidge's sigh of relief. "I found out what this ship was used for and it's not a pleasant information."

Keith looked back at the room. "Nothing can compare to what I found here. We're heading back to the Castle to discuss. And Lance."

"Yes Keith?"

"Destroy this ship."

* * *

"Keith, what happened in there?" Lance asked as the team watched Pidge's cracking the encrypted data in the bridge.

"Pidge, tell them what you found first."

Pidge explained her findings with Keith when they were heading back to the Castle in the Green Lion. He told her the reason why he gave that order to Lance. Her face paled.

"After going through several encrypted datas on the ship's computer, I found out it wasn't a warship, but a cargo ship. A specialized Galra cargo ship."

"So? What it was holding that made Lance blast the ship?" Hunk asked.

Pidge looked at Keith which she can see something unfamiliar emotion in his eyes. She took a deep breath.

"It's a slave ship." as she watched their neutral reaction, but her next response will hit them hard like Keith. "Not just a slave ship we have encountered before, but a sex slave ship."

She saw their horrified and disgusted expression, but she especially watched Allura's. Her expression was mixed with anger. Pidge knew Allura still have her hatred with the Galras, but this one might have cemented it. She would have to watch her closely so Allura doesn't hurt Keith on accident. She still remember the sad look on Keith's face when he told everyone about his blood heritage. It was something she didn't want to see again on him because of this. The guilt of being part of the very race that was destroying the universe.

"I found out where the ship's last coordinates, but..." she paused as she adjusted her glasses. "it was used as an escape ship and whoever was on the ship was trying to escape."

They all looked at Keith when Lance rushed up towards him and pulled his collar. "Why did ordered me to blast it if we can save them?!"

Keith placed both hands on Lance's shoulder and gave the commanding look at Pidge. She nodded with hesitation and typed in a few commands on her laptop.

The screen changed from encrypted Galra words into a visual picture of what Keith saw through his helmet. Two unknown female species chained up around the wrists and ankles wearing only lewd crop tops and panties. They looked beaten and torture with scars and dried blood crusted on their skins. A Galra solider was laid in front of them with his head blasted by its own blaster.

Hunk placed his hand over his mouth and turned around quick with a bag over his mouth. Allura turned quick and hid her face on Coran's shoulder as he patted her and looked away. Lance released his grip on Keith and took his frustration out by punching the closest thing to him which was Keith. Keith anticipated and stopped his punch with one hand.

"There was no way we can save them, Lance. I did not want this ship floating aimlessly with those bodies rotting in space. I thought it was the best course to respect the dead."

"They are Scythians." as Coran spoke up while holding Allura. "They are from the Planet Scythia in the Sarmatia system. A race of strong, female warriors that Princess Allura's mother used to speak highly of when she and King Alfor visited."

"Similar to the mythical story of Amazon women back on Earth then." as Lance responded.

"Zarkon must of taken over their planet." as Hunk finally regained his senses, but the moment he saw the picture again, he turned away again. He threw up once more.

Pidge shook her head and tapped a few buttons to change the visual back to Galra data. "No. It's Zarkon's son. They called him Prince Lotor and it mentioned how he has this disgusting habit of capturing any beautiful, especially females, into his harem."

"Just like his Father. They are monsters to the universe." with Allura's venom voice. "We need to free them!"

Keith nodded. "Pidge, continue to find out if there's anymore information about this Prince Lotor. Allura and I will contact the Blade of Marmora if they had any information about this. Coran, set the course to Planet Scythia."

"And Lance," as he watched Hunk trying to regain his composure. "take care of Hunk first. I need you two to work with Coran on finding more about the Scythian race. We don't want to provoke them once we get there."

Lance smile beamed and did his military salute as he walked close to Hunk and guided him away from the bridge.

 _Only Lance who would get excited about a planet full of women he can flirt with._ As Keith pinched his nose bridge.

"Oh!" as Coran stood straight and placed his fist on his open palm. "I forgot to mention that they are not too fond of males and even more so after being taken over by this Prince Lotor; so when we do make it there and if they're still upholding their long tradition, we won't have a pleasant meeting especially if we want to meet their ruler except for number 5 and Princess Allura."

Keith raised his brow. "So only Pidge and Allura are allowed since they are females. Is that what I'm getting?"

"Correct!"

"How did King Alfor visited the planet then?" Keith asked, but the moment those words left his mouth, he felt an uneasy feel in his stomach.

"Why, my young lad. To appreciate and respect them, we would have to dress ourselves like them!" as Coran words beamed with sparkles and rainbows.

It scared Keith when he have that shining amusement look and even more when he looked at Pidge. She smiled while shaking her head. He groaned when his forehead met his palm.

Maybe he can make it a command for Pidge to go, but then again, he didn't want to know what she'll do if he did. Or he can convince Lance to go along and dressed up with Allura since it would be unwise to have her go alone.

"And Keith?" as Coran finally got out of his usual shiny universe. "Only those within power can have audience with their ruler. Beside Princess Allura, you would have to accompany her as the leader of Voltron."

 _Great. The universe was against him. What else could be more peachy?_ As Keith thought.

If only he knew it was the beginning of his downfall.

* * *

Thank you for reading! ;3

Next chapter will be a two-part story!


	3. Fallen Goddess (Part 1)

**Summary:** Shiro appears?! Lance found his courage to tell Keith. Allura and Keith meet with the ruler of Scythia.

* * *

Slowly and carefully, his eyes flickered to adjust the sudden brightness of the room and his head turned to the side on the soft, firm pillow. He let out a low moan as he tried to get up, but was stopped by a pair of gentle hands rest on his collarbone area and gave a gentle push for him to lay back down.

"Please." as he heard a soft, female voice. "You must stay rested. You are still healing and recovering."

His eyes blinked more to gain more focus when he finally saw a clear look of the person in front of him. She was smiling and for a moment, he thought he saw an angel. An angel who looked similar to Princess Allura.

"Allura?" his voice was raspy and dry.

She chuckled. "So I've been told I looked like her, but I'm not."

"Who-" as he felt her soft finger tips on his chapped lips.

"Shhh... I can answer all your questions once your wound heals up. Please rest up, Black Paladin." as she leaned over and gave a gentle kiss on his forehead.

His eyes felt heavy and every muscles he tried to move became tiresome so he listened to his angel and closed his eyes. A moment later, his breathing became steady. She smiled while brushing his white locks away from his peaceful face and used her blouse sleeve in a gentle damp motion to absorb his trickling sweat.

She knew the Black Paladin's name, but wanted to wait for him to recover so he can introduce himself to her. A simple admiration and respect as she has heard about him from her followings. She adjusted his blanket, but kept her seating on his bedside while she whipped out her data pad and reading more information data she got recently.

Her last raid to release the prisoners has gotten her someone who was able to hack any Galra systems. She had enough people who can hack through their system, but this prisoner was different.

It wasn't until she had the Black Paladin back on her ship that the prisoner knew who he was.

 _ **"Shiro? Is that Takashi Shirogane?"**_

 _ **"Is that his name? He's known as the Champion in the Galras, but he's the current Black Paladin."**_

 _ **"Yes. That's his name. We called him Shiro for short."**_

 _Shiro. What an unusual name._

She looked back at Shiro's sleeping face and back at the data pad. Whether it was a coincidence or not, she followed her instinct to travel through an unknown system and waited until she felt him. His wandering presence.

Her face grimaced as she read more reports on Prince Lotor's activities. She was forever disgusted by that vile creature and it seems he has been planning something in secrecy as she tried to connect the dots of his movement. So far, she hasn't been able to pinpoint his true intentions except for his orders against Voltron.

She knew Lotor has hidden agendas and each time she tried to thwart him, he slipped through her grasp. But this time, she felt this one will required Shiro's help. As much she hates to admit, her instincts are telling her that something sinister was going to happen.

Sooner than she anticipated.

* * *

"Okay! We are in the Sarmatia system and Planet Scythia is two vargas away!" as Coran spoke up cheerfully.

Lance has his arms crossed while he was in his seat on the bridge. "I wanted to go check out the planet, Coran."

Coran turned around with one hand on his waist and another hand up in the air with his index finger waving. "Sorry Lance, only with authority can go first so we can gain permission to enter."

Pidge was chuckling. "Beside Lance, you can get to tease Keith a lot more this time~~ You should of seen his face when he had to dress up! It was priceless!"

"HA! Like that Mullet can pull it off. I make a better woman than him."

"Yeah, with the amount of beauty regime you do, Lance. You can truly pull off as a woman easily." with Hunk speaking up.

"The Blue Paladin has 82.9% of pulling off as woman, but 30.53% of attractions in this reality, but the Red Paladin has 86.72% of attracting both sexes in this reality." as Slav spoke behind Coran. "But 93.75% that he can pull off as a woman."

Lance glared at Slav. "Shut up! How can he have a higher percentage than me?!"

"Please Lance, you're part of the 86.72% that is attracted to him." with Pidge pointing it out. "I bet you it will be 100% the moment he steps out with Princess Allura."

"You're on!"

"Paladins." with everyone on the bridge looking at the screen and seeing Allura in Blue's hanger with the Blue Lion in the background with her shield barrier up. "Please come meet us in the Blue Lion's hanger."

"I thought we were going to discuss it here, Princess." as Coran scratched his head.

They saw her amused chuckling. "You have to come here before Keith finds the nearest airlock to throw himself out."

* * *

Everyone arrived at Blue's hanger and their eyes were locked on Allura immediately. She wore a long, shimmering V-crossed sapphire blue dress with an open slit near the front right side. There were intricate golden patterns laced around her shoulders with a white cape hanging behind, a golden corset wrapped around her waist and two matching golden bangles on her wrists. Her boots were up to her calves and were white with powder blue linings. She had her tied and curled up as it was resting in front of her chest with two thin golden bands wrapped around her forehead.

Lance gave a wolf whistle. "You are a knock-out, Allura. Now I wish I went with you."

Allura chuckled. "Thank you Lance. This was my mother's dress when she visited the planet. I thought I would pay the same respect and hopefully, they remember it too."

Hunk shook his head fast and looked around. "So? Where is our fearless leader Keith?"

"He should be back soon." with her hand covering her laugh. "He tried getting in Blue so fast, but she put up her barrier before he can. I asked Blue to take it down, but she refuses. So, he went either Red's or Black's hanger, but-"

"UGH. Why won't they let me in-" as Keith barged in with heavy breathing, but stood up in shock as he saw the team.

Lance's mouth gaped wide open with Hunk blinking several times and Pidge was keeping mental note and sneaking in take a few pictures. Pidge looked up at Lance and used her index finger to push up Lance's open mouth to close.

 _Yup. 100%._ As Coran, Pidge, and Hunk nodded in agreement.

Keith wore a sleeveless short white blouse dress around his thigh area with the back area of his skirt hanging an inch below his knee with rose gold lacing. Rose gold belt wrapped around his waist and same color with his lace scarf buttoned on his outfit shoulder's straps with tail end hanging close to his waist. He had an inch long rose gold bangle on both of his wrists and wore the same boot style as Allura except with ruby color. He kept his same hair style except with little volume as he refused to have Allura change it.

Keith's face went pinkish red before he glared at Blue who finally let down her shield barrier.

And now, Keith understand why the Lions did not let him in. They wanted everyone to see his new feminine look.

 _Thanks a lot._ As mentally mumbled.

He could hear all of their satisfying purrs. He crossed his arms.

"Go ahead and make fun of me now."

Lance blinked without breaking his eye contact with Keith. "You look beautiful like a goddess, Keith."

Keith's eyes blinked several times and cocked his head. Somehow, his body felt a bit warmer than before and quickly stroll past the others towards Blue without looking. He was stopped when he felt a strong grip on his wrist and saw it was Lance.

Before Keith can get a word out of his mouth, he stood frozen still when he watched Lance lifted his wrist up as he felt those firm hand moved from his wrist to his own hand and was pulled close until he felt a gentle, firm touch on his knuckle. He felt extreme warmth on his cheeks and ears.

 _Did...did he just kissed my hand?! I-I thought he would? Why is Lance so confusing to understand?_

 _Wow. Where did I get the courage from? It's the dress and probably his cute look of embarrassment._

As they both expressed their thoughts at the same time.

Lance had his eyes closed when his lips met those firm, callous hand and reopening his eyes to see a speechless, more embarrassed Keith. He smiled and let out the most gentle voice he had ever given to anyone until now.

"Good luck, Keith."

He released Keith's hand and watched his crush looked away quick and nodded with a quiet thanks as he walked away. Lance looked up at Blue and gave her a gentle nod.

 _Please take care of him, Blue._

She gave a gentle mental nudge and purred.

Allura smiled and spoke up. "We will let you guys know once we make contact with them."

She looked at Lance and gave a wink before she followed Keith and asked Blue to open up for her entrance. They had to watch from afar and safe as they watched Blue left the hanger.

Lance almost fell forward when Hunk slapped his back. "Wow man. That's one bold move to let him know."

"I don't know what gotten into me. I just acted on auto pilot." as he scratched the back of his head.

Coran placed his arm around Lance's shoulder. "At least, you showed him how you felt about him. That's a good start! I mean, he didn't even do his usual scowl with you!"

"But still-"

"No buts! Tell him how you feel once they get back, okay?"

Lance nodded.

"Well then guys, let's just sit back and wait for our next orders."

* * *

Blue Lion landed with little turbulence when they had to make in a dense, lush forest near the river. Luckily, Allura had Keith giving instructions of how to land in the forest. It felt different piloting her Lion without her uniform and she noticed how Keith kept looking away whenever she moved her right leg where the slit was.

She smiled as she remembered how Keith tried to run away from her when she handed him his outfit. He looked paled and disgust that she had to force lock the room so he can't run away. It took a little convincing for Keith to dress himself and all she had to do was help with the little details. It was quite enjoyable and probably convince the other Paladins to join.

As they walked out of Blue's mouth, they were greeted with several partially armored warriors from different race as they move apart to create a walkway. Standing tall and regal at the end was their current ruler. She was tall as Allura, but with more lean muscles wearing dark brown armors with two slits from waist down, dark tan knee high boots and wearing a sleeveless beige animal coat with furs around her shoulder. She had those faded coin-like band wrapped around her head. Her skin were tan like sand with strange markings on her right arm and left side of her face. Keith gulped as he saw her short, but sharp fingernails.

"Princess Allura. This is the most pleasant surprise after many years. I am Atalanta, ruler of Scythia." as she opened her arms wide.

"I've heard many words from Mother about your planet. I'm glad you are well." as Allura went into her embrace.

Atalanta shook her head. "We are still in war and planning a way to take back our planet from the Galra Empire."

She looked over Allura's shoulder. "And who this young man might be?"

"This is Keith. He is the current leader of Voltron and the Red Paladin."

He can hear many hush whispers around him as he walked to Atalanta and with both arms close to his body, he gave his bow to her. He could hear a hum from her as he rose back up.

"There isn't many men who outmatched our Goddess' beauty, but you are certainly an exotic one." as her words purred with amusement.

 _That's twice I've been told that... I'm just normal._

"Come to our hideout so we can discuss in private. We can't alert your presence here." as Atalanta motioned her guards and walking into the dense forest.

Both Allura and Keith looked at each other and followed them.

* * *

"Oh my god, why Allura?! I cannot handle wearing the-these outfit! I want my pants back!" as Keith tugged the soft silk fabric on his lap while sitting on a chair.

They had dinner earlier and waiting for the servants to clean their table. Earlier, both Allura and Keith had to change their outfit to a more appropriate casual wear if Keith ever consider it casual at all.

It was pure silk white dress with one-sided strap hanging long behind their back. The hems of their flowing dress were in a V-shaped angle with golden hems. An inch wide ribbon wrapped around their waists with a matching neck and wrists band.

"I feel too exposed the more I continue wearing this." as he used a napkin to cover his lap.

"Oh Keith, this is more loose than what I wore." as her eyes did a quick glance over. "And please keep your legs closed. It's unladylike."

Keith gave her a quick glare and placed his legs together. It still felt awkward and cold.

"Lady Atalanta, we'll get right to business. We found two of your people on a Galra ship not too long ago, but they were dead once we arrived. Would you provide us information about the enemy we are dealing with?" Allura spoke up and looked at Atalanta on her left.

"Yes. He is Prince Lotor, only heir and son of Emperor Zarkon. He has ruled countless galaxies under his reign including this planet. He does not see us beings, but just his sick enjoyment." as she took a deep breath. "I lost countless of my precious people because of him. Forcing us to hide and live in shame as I cannot face my people who has gave up their lives for our sake."

"Do you happened to have any images of this Prince Lotor?" Keith asked.

She shook her head. "No, we don't. None of our people who has seen his face are never return. But I heard many rumors about one of his slave was able to escape from him and has been in hiding since then."

"We must find her so she can help us. She might know him better than we are."

"I apologize Princess Allura, but I don't know where she is. However, I can inform you who she is." as she watched her servants placing their drinks on the table. "Her name is Romelle. Princess Romelle of the Planet Pollux."

Allura gasped while Keith looked at her with confusion. She looked at Keith. "Planet Pollux was the sister planet to Altea, but I heard they sided with Galra Empire after they destroyed my planet."

"It's true. However, Princess Romelle did not want to be part of the Empire so they captured her as a prisoner for treason."

"How can we recognize this Princess Romelle if we find her?" Keith asked.

Atalanta pointed at Allura and smiled. "She could have been your twin sister as she looked very much like you."

Atalanta held her cup and chugged her drink down. Allura and Keith looked at their own cups and drank their mysterious red drink. Keith scrunched his face when his tongue felt the bitter taste while Allura took it with stride. She was used to bitter drinks.

"We can discuss more once you two are well-rested." as she snapped her fingers with her servants appearing at each side of her guests. "Please take them their respective rooms."

They both bowed to her and followed their guide. When they were out of her sight, Atalanta felt her muscles release from being tense. She closed her eyes and gave out a long breathing sigh.

 _I'm sorry Princess Allura and Keith, but I must do this for my people._

* * *

Keith looked around his semi-spacious and decorative room. It has so many shades of red that he has ever seen to the point of a red veil curtain in front of his bed. It looked like one of those ancient China beds that he was just reading random history books back on Earth.

 _This is very awkward to be in._

He didn't like this one bit and even worse when Allura's room was at the opposite end of the hallway. It made communicating harder as there was one guard standing at each end of the hallway. He pulled out his cushion chair and slumped down while laying his arms out wide on the table with half of his face resting on the soft velvet cloth.

He looked up with his chin on the table and stared at the small silver urn with thin billows of scented smoke came out. He moved closer to take a quick whiff and leaned back in his seat.

It smelled good like jasmine and white lily with a hint of citrus. He would have to ask Atalanta about this incense since he didn't mind having it around to help him relax when they get back to the Castle ship.

His eyes felt heavy suddenly with his mind quick in relaxing. His whole body felt even heavier when he tried getting up. Everything he felt was shutting down quick and with every blinks, he swore he saw a dark figure standing near the door and moving closer to him.

With what little burst of energy he had, Keith stood up quick with his palms on the table to hold only to lose his balance and his body tilting fast to his right. He was expecting to meet the hard carpet floor, but found himself in something warm and metallic like armor.

Something firm and quite hairy, like fur, fingers were caressing his cheek and the only thing he saw before darkness took him was that joker-like grin as it made contact with his own lips.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading!**


	4. Temptation of the Red Goddess

**Summary:** What happened when an unconscious Keith gets taken and left alone with Lotor in the room?

* * *

Yellow eyes flickered with amusement and hint of desire as he watched his beautiful prey sitting alone in his room with curiosity and alertness. The way he paced around the room with fluid and grace like a cat-like creature, Sekhmet. He has an epiphany for beauty and it seems the Red Paladin continues to entice his ever-growing fascinations.

He wanted to personally see his _Keith_ in a different perspective and so far, it was a delectable treat. He waited with utmost patience for this limited time to greet him differently as the Galra Prince. It didn't took long before his prey began to lose focus and strength to fight as he walked into his room with great stealth.

A grin etched on his face as he watched Keith tried to stand up when he saw what was heading towards him, only to lose his balance which Lotor made a quick move to capture his fallen goddess. He could see those faded violet eyes as his Galra fingers caressed Keith's smooth cheek. Slight temptation got the best of the Prince as he leaned down and capture Keith's rosy pink lips.

 _Bittersweet like a fine Altean wine._ As he chuckled.

Lotor placed his other hand underneath Keith's legs and lifted him quick with some ease. With a slight adjustment, he carried his sleeping goddess out of the room where he was greeted with one of his personal guard who was carrying the Altean Princess. She was a beauty too and it seems he has struck with extreme luck to have two beautiful creatures in his hands. With a quiet command, they headed towards their awaited craft.

* * *

He hummed with renew amusement as he kept watch of his sleeping beauty on his bed. Dead to the world as it would keep Keith unconscious for about two to three vargas depending on his human autonomy. It was something he wanted to experiment on with Haggar's help. She had an epiphany to make any ideal concoction on a whim for his personal entertainment.

Lotor adjusted his seating on the edge of his bed and was now facing his prey who looked more tempting with each gazes. He placed his fingers playfully on Keith's calf and savoring his smooth skin as they slid up dangerously slow until his hand disappeared underneath his skirt and made a turn to go inside of his thigh and down to his calf again.

A slight twitch felt on his finger and another somewhere on his own lower half as he was rewarded with his ears flickered happily when a soft moan escaped from his prey's sweet mouth. Keeping his exploring hand on those smooth legs, Lotor bend over to capture those soft lips again.

It was no different to kissing like one of his harem with his current state, but Lotor wondered how it feel and taste when he was fully awake. Will it be rough and feisty like him?

The thought of it made his skin tingled with excitement to dominate the burning fire in this young man. To see it extinguished by his own hands. With a sly grin, he moved his wandering hand onto Keith's face and brushing away stray locks.

With temptation this high, Lotor would usually just take his prey right on the spot with his heart's desire until satisfied. Or play with them until he would drink in all their pain before pleasure.

A little pleasure taste-tasting won't hurt as Lotor moved over at the edge of the bed so he can get the full view of his sleeping prey. He placed both of his hands on Keith's knee cap and spreading his legs apart until he saw an interesting view. He gave a low whistle as he placed one finger in a stroking motion on the silky undergarment. Those Scythian race went full out to dressing up his prey.

He was rewarded with another moan from his Keith as he tried to close his legs subconsciously, but Lotor was not having that as he slipped his body frame between those legs while grabbing both of his wrists up and placed them over his head.

"Oh no no. I haven't gotten to the fun part yet." while keeping one hand strapped on both wrists, his other hand went underneath Keith's thigh and lifting until it was in an arch position. Lotor position his body until it felt fitted where he moved his hip in slow, rocking move against the silk fabric.

It was an odd sensation to feel a different kind of enjoyment. With each planets he conquered, he would take mental notes of what sexual pleasures and pain he can use for future purpose. This one he picked up when he was casually catch few of his female slaves having sex while still fully clothed. He wondered if it was as enjoyable as without clothes based on what he saw.

Well, he got his answer when his beautiful prey gave a low pleasuring moan with his head turning and seeing how much his stomach deflate from inhaling deep and vice versa. It was a sight to behold as he rocked in a quicker pace. His erection perked with sight alone, but with this, this physical touch was making him hard and slightly unbearable.

The thought of sticking his own slick Galra cock into Keith's human hole was making his body shiver in anticipation. His smooth, porcelain skin against his rough, furry Galra skin was mind tingling and yet, delicious as he licked his chapped lip. Another lip-smacking image of Keith's bare lithe, supple body riding him sensually on his cock.

 _Ah. I need to stop with these delectable thoughts. I only have one clean underpants._

 _Your Altean Princess is spare lucky today. You are quite enjoyable than I imagined even when unconscious._

But he will be a good (and satisfying evil) Galra prince and wait for to claim his prize fully. He leaned towards Keith's exposed shoulder and spraying peppered kisses along and up to his neckline where his warm tongue darted out and licking underneath his chin like a cat.

"I want you to remember these feels and my touches whenever you closed your eyes."

Keith let out another soft, sleepy moan as his body twitches from different sensations. Lotor chuckled as he moved over to whisper in his ear.

"Shh... If only you weren't a beautiful and delicious tease, then I would have let you off as a tempting bait."

As his fingers stroke along Keith's raven hair and enjoying how soft it felt.

"But I don't think I can let you go after all when this plan completes."

He sat up straight with his hand still roaming along Keith's cheek and hair. Patience was one of his least forte, but he was willing to wait for this one for his plan to succeed.

Until then, a few of his (un)fortunate slaves will have to ease his carnal desires. An eerie smile appeared as his mind thought many ways to play with his Keith. He thought of a few favorite activities that will ensure and evoke many emotions out of his prey.

 _Ah~ There is one thing I was so curious to try, but never got to until now. Will have to inform Haggar to create it special for the Red Paladin._

Oh where his evil mind has turned dirty so quick and oh so very enjoyable.

His mad, sadistic laugh was buried under the sound of alarms going off on the ship as an explosion somewhere had shook the room. He gave one final kiss on Keith's lips then on his forehead.

"Your friends has finally come and those unsuspecting pests have taken the bait." he smiled as he stood up and headed towards the door.

He stopped and looked over his shoulder. "The next time we meet, it will be your final farewell to your friends."

 _As you are now mine._

* * *

 **Thank you for reading!**


	5. Fallen Goddess (Part 2)

**Summary:** Robeast appears! Lions to the rescue. Lotor made a bold bet. And Lance came to his realization with Keith.

* * *

"Coran! Any words from Allura or Keith yet?!"

"No Lance! It's difficult to locate them with all these dense forests."

"Guys! Less arguing and more evading! We definitely need Voltron to defeat this robeast!" as Hunk spoke through their Lion's communication. "And is that Medusa we're fighting?"

"Ugh. I hate snakes." as Pidge maneuvered Green away from one of those snakes. "Lance, was Red able to sense Keith?"

"No, she told me she can't feel his conscience mind." as Red Lion paused in the air and opened her mouth to release her ion cannon at the Robeast as it blasted off four snakes, but it regenerated.

Lance gripped his controllers hard as he watched the robeast roaring in the air like a wailing toddler. It had a body of a steroid bodybuilder, but the head of creepy IT clown with snake hairs. He bit his lower lip as his mind replayed earlier before this robeast showed up.

* * *

He knew something wrong when Red purred in his mind when he was napping on the bridge. It wasn't Red's usual annoying purrs and growls, but a worry purr. He didn't know what to do on the bridge since Coran went to the kitchen to make a sandwich and his only closest option that could read Altean was Slav who was just lounging around on Allura's spot.

"Hey Slav. Can you like patch a communication line to Blue Lion? I can't read Altean."

Slav stood up straight and leaned closer to Lance's face while giving him an analytical look. "You have 15.1% of being able to store Altean language in your brain cells."

Lance could feel his veins inside in his head popping. He gave a forced smile as he spoke. "And in this reality, Slav?"

"Oh, in this reality." as if Slav's light bulb just turned on. "There is a good 85.5% chance of the Blue Lion reading your worried thoughts."

Lance cocked his head. "From this distance?"

"Yes. Red Lion has proven that theory with her previous Paladin. It will depends how bonded you are with Blue Lion."

Lance scratched his cheek with his index and hummed at the thought. He bonded Blue right off the bat and she was his pride when he piloted her. But he wondered if it was still strong after having Allura as her new pilot.

His body shook as he turned his head back at the door when he heard the roaring sounds. It was loud enough to shake the Castle ship.

"Slav, pull up the screen to where that roar came from." He knew who roar that was, but he wanted to make sure.

After imputing several commands on the control panel, the screen showed the Black Lion's hanger as it roared up in the air.

 _Something must have happened to Keith, but why didn't Red roared like Black? Unless Black sensed Shiro?_

 _Shiro's alive? Of course he is, stupid Lance! How can you think he was dead?!_

Lance was about to speak when the Castle's alarm blared loud and the whole room painted in red light. Slav's first two hands went on the control panel's pad to find out the cause and their eyes opened wide when they saw that coffin-like ship heading towards the planet.

"Well quiznak."

* * *

Allura groaned while her eyes opened slowly and refocusing with each blink as her muscle fibers screamed from being stiff from a prolong time. She sat up from her slumber and looked around with her widen crystalline eyes gazing around her new, unknown surroundings.

It barren with pale white clouds up in the darken sky. She looked around, but all her eyes can see are in Prussian blue color.

 **"Princess Allura."**

She looked around and saw no one. Who was speaking to her? It had a gentle voice. A female voice.

 **"Please wake up, Princess Allura. Your friends need you. The Red Paladin needs you."**

 _Keith!_

"Where's Keith? Please help me how to get out." she stopped looking around and saw a masked figure standing a mile away from her.

The prominent white lion mask with a gold V crest in the middle of the forehead.

 **"Feel your Altean magic. Bond with your Lion and you will be able to find the one you're looking for."**

"But how? How can I do it?"

 **"Feel. Feel your emotion. Feel your resolve."**

Allura closed her eyes and took a deep breath while clearing her mind.

 ** _Sorrow. Pain. Anger. Lost._**

 _Zarkon. Galra. Haggar._

 ** _Happiness. Love. Friendship. Respect._**

 _Father. Coran. Space Mice. Paladins._

"Yes. Remember. Feel."

 _Lance. Pidge. Hunk. Keith. Shiro._

 **"Do see what they see in you, Princess Allura."**

"I am Princess of Altea and daughter of King Alfor."

The masked person nodded.

"I love Lance's quirkiness, Pidge's intellect, Hunk's kindness, Keith's compassion, and Shiro's protectiveness. Not only as fellow Paladin or Princess, but as their friend."

Masked person held straight out its bare hand with palm up. Allura looked for a tick and placed her hand on it. The whole room changed to white with several color streams flow like ribbons around them.

 **"Focus and balance. You'll be able to wake up from this trickery from the Galran Prince."**

"Lotor. But how? Who are you?"

 **"We will meet soon. The Red Paladin is in danger, but your friends need your help more. I will retrieve the Red Paladin for you. Voltron is needed."**

Allura nodded and closed her eyes to refocus herself and her magic. Masked person smiled and disappeared the moment Allura opened her eyes again. At the same moment, the Blue Lion's yellow eyes glowed bright and she roared in the air loud as she flew up in the air from her hiding.

She gasped for air and sat shot up from her laying position. Her hand placed over her heart to calm herself and looking around at another new surrounding. A different room from where she stayed last time and it was far from where-

 _Keith!_

It told her that Keith was in trouble. But the question is where he was taken and how to get out of here first. If only she wore her armor, then she could use her staff to break free. She almost fell off of her bed, but caught her balance quick.

Allura's eyes widen as she could hear and feel a rumbling purring in her mind. Blue Lion had her mind and was now attacking the ship they were on. She moved away quick and took cover from a nearby table as she saw a metal claw piercing the wall and ripping it away. Blue opened her mouth quick as Allura ran to the opened wall and into Blue's mouth.

* * *

The moment Lotor stepped out of the room, he ducked and dodged immediately from the sudden attack. He jumped back with his hand over the sword's hilt with a smile on his face.

"So you finally show yourself, my white lioness."

"Lotor." as the voice was laced with deep venom.

"You have changed and grown quite a bit the last time we've met, Romelle."

"Quiet." as she placed her short staff in attack position. "What do you want with the Red Paladin?"

Lotor kept his smile while he stood straight with both hands up. "Oh what made you think I want something from the Red Paladin? Hmm?"

"Because you have a sick, twisted game in your mind. Just like your father."

He laughed loud. "Oh that's where you're both right and wrong."

"Unlike my Father, I don't care about the Lions. They are useless in my hands. But," as he held two fingers up, "if you can predict my true motive within the next two moves, then I'll surrender myself."

"With you, there is always a catch. What if I can't?"

She hated his joker-like smile as he stood there with confidence and his hands are now behind his back.

"I already thought of my prize. Until then, it was lovely to see you again, Princess Romelle." as he snapped his fingers.

Lotor disappeared the moment several purple lightnings zapped through each side and heading towards her. She bent her knees and whipped her staff straight out and spun it fast in circular motion to act as a shield to deflect the incoming attack. She growled as she stopped spinning and stood up straight.

 _Damn it. It was trap to lure us out. No time to for blaming. They need the Black Lion's pilot to form Voltron._

Her staff shrunk down to five inches and placed it in her hair bun as she walked into the room where Lotor came out. She walked in and saw the unarmored Red Paladin laying on bed unconscious and unshaken by the surrounding battle. She walked to the bed and sat next to him with her eyes examining his whole body.

 _I don't understand. Lotor has epiphany to force himself on beautiful woman, but he wasn't in Princess Allura's room, but the Red Paladin's. No signs of force nor restraints. What is his true motive?_

She placed her petite hands on his cheeks and rested her forehead onto his while closing her eyes. Her fingers twitched.

 _What are you, Red Paladin?_

With a deep breath and in soft whispers, she chanted few repetitive words until she felt his conscience coming back.

Black Lion's eyes glowed bright as she roared in her hanger and flew out to meet her Paladin.

* * *

"GUYSSS! A LITTLE HELP HERE!" as Hunk tried avoiding one of the snakes only to be grabbed by another from behind with its sharp fangs on Yellow's back leg.

"We're coming, buddy!" as Lance pulled his controls back and pushed the right lever forward to fly towards Hunk's position.

"Oh my god. Oh my god." as he watched from the inside as his Lion was dangled over the robeast's extended mouth. "I'M GOING TO GET EATEN!"

His Yellow Lion felt a sudden shook from a powerful shock wave as the snakes hissed in pain and releasing their grip on his lion. Hunk immediately pulled his controllers back to fly away as the Robeast's snakes hissed loudly and exploded into slimy pieces. A piece flew on the Green Lion's face.

"EWW. That's freakin' disgusting." as Pidge made Green to use her paw to wipe it off.

"Sorry to be late, Paladins."

They all watched on their screen when Allura's face popped up on their monitor.

"ALLURA!"

"Princess Allura, I'm so happy you're safe!" as Coran wiped his tears on his sleeve.

"What happened? Is Keith with you?" Lance asked.

Allura shook her head. "I can explain later, but as for Keith-"

"Oh don't worry Paladins! The Black Lion just left the hanger a few ticks ago." with Coran cutting in. "Concentrate on the robeast until he comes!"

"Oh I really hope soon, because that Medusa Robeast looked so pissed and more uglier." as Hunk spoke up.

Hunk was right. The Medusa robeast was all red and screamed up in the air as her snake hair grew back, but more blacker and thicker than before.

"Oh mother of quiznaks." as Lance stared at it with his fingers fidgeting. "Come on, buddy. We need you here."

"Did you guys missed me?" as a familiar voice filled up their cockpit.

"KEITH!" as they saw his weak smiling face on the monitor.

Lance gave a low wolf whistle and a grin. "Our Goddess Athena is here!"

The other three groaned while Keith gave a confused look.

"What? Never mind. Let's defeat this robeast. Let's form Voltron!"

"YEAH!"

* * *

Pidge was the first to race up and embraced Keith into a tackle hug the moment he stepped out Black's mouth. His body kept its balance, but it was Black who strategically placed her metal paw behind him.

 _Thank you, Black._

She purred and nuzzled his still fuzzy mind.

"What happened to you two on the planet?" Hunk asked.

Keith placed his hand on his forehead. "I don't remember after Allura and I had dinner with the ruler."

"Princess?" as Coran looked at her where she stood next to him.

"All I remember was waking up and Blue Lion came clawing to where I was held."

"So you both don't remember anything between after dinner up to your Lions' appearances." as Pidge released her hug on Keith and adjusted her glasses.

"Ah. I remember being saved my this masked white Lion person in my dream. She even guided me how to focus my magic."

Keith blinked. "I was too when I woke up. She told me we were captured and taken on Prince Lotor's ship."

"WHAT?!"

Lance rushed up to Keith with his hands on his cheeks and along his arms. "He didn't do anything to you both?"

Keith shook his head. "I remember being unbound in a normal room."

"Not a cell?"

"No. We were in separate rooms." Allura spoke up.

"Were you hurt in any ways, Princess?" as Coran frantically examined her for any wounds.

Allura shook her head. "I don't think so. I was more worried about Keith."

"Me? I'm worried about you since we heard how Prince Lotor is."

Coran moved in between them while twirling his mustache. "Let's continue this talk later when you two are fully rested. We can discuss our next move."

He turned quick and pushed Allura her out of the hanger while she tried talking to the other Paladins. Pidge watched until she noticed how Lance hadn't released his hold on Keith and gave a silent signal to Hunk.

He nodded. "Well, I'll be in the kitchen to fix something up. I get hungry after a battle."

"I'll join you, Hunk!" as Pidge rushed to Hunk's side as they left together.

It was only Keith and Lance together with Black Lion. They stood in silence for several ticks until Lance closed their gap and hugged Keith tight with his face buried on his shoulder. Keith stood still like a statue and looking like a confused child when he was pulled into Lance's embrace. It felt warm and somewhat tingly in his senses.

"Laa-ance?"

Lance stood up and wiped his eyes on sleeve. "Do you know how worry we was when we found out you and Allura were kidnapped?"

"Lance-"

"I was worried about you the most! You were..."

Lance looked at his shoulder where Keith placed his hand on. "I were what, Lance? Look, I'm fine. You should get some rest."

 _You were carried by the Galran Prince, Keith._ He wanted to say it, but he couldn't.

He could not forget the painful image sent to them through the Castle's communication system sent by an unknown hacker. He felt a burning passion to just fly out with Red and punch that vile prince. The way he carried Keith as if he was a fragile princess, but in a very possessive hold.

"Lance, what's wrong? You're scowling now. That's unlike you."

He can't be mad at Keith for not knowing how he felt. He hadn't told him his true feeling and now, it was eating him alive inside.

"Damn it Keith. I might as well spell it out loud to you." as he placed his hands on Keith's cheeks, pulled him close to his face, and kissed him.

Keith's eyes went wide as he tried to push Lance back, but his grip was strong or that he was still feeling weak from whatever they gave him. When he opened his mouth to speak, Lance took the chance to stick his tongue inside. His tongue touching every crevices inside while his tongue battle with Keith's. He slid both hands down along Keith's lithe frame until it wrapped around his waist and his arms crossed behind his back.

Keith closed his eyes when he felt gentle rubs on his back while feeling Lance's hungry kiss. It was an odd feeling sensation inside and yet, relaxing good as Keith placed his hands on Lance's back and felt a rumbling sound coming out of his own throat.

 _God. Keith's purring sounds so hot._

Lance gave Keith a gentle push back with their saliva streaming out like thin bridge between their lips. He leaned close to Keith's lips again and gave a few licks as he felt both of their warm, heavy breathing mingled together.

"Lance, I-" as his voice became husky, but felt a finger on his lips.

"I like you, Keith. I really like you." as he placed his forehead on Keith's. "I just want to let you know."

"Lance..."

Lance smiled. "And now you know why Red was giving me hard time. As Blue would say, you are Red's precious cub. Keith, it took me time to realize my feelings to you so you should take your time to find your own answer. I will wait for you."

Keith gave a gentle nod while enjoying Lance's soothing touches on his face.

They both giggled when they heard Black and the other Lions gave their satisfying purrs with Red's approving purrs in their minds.

* * *

Thank you for reading!


	6. Sky's the Limit

**Author's note:** I'm spoiling you all. After watching the trailer of Season 3, I had to input that awesome speech of Lotor and ta-dah! lol.

 **Summary:** Shiro makes an appearance along with another long-lost friend. Lotor made a clear declaration.

* * *

Romelle quirked her eyebrow when she walked into a room where she watched her stubborn patient named Shiro doing push-ups with one arm on his back, on the floor topless, and with his black loose pant only.

"I should have known that you're one of those people who can't stay still when asked." she said with one hand on her slim waist.

Shiro paused and looked up only to lose his balance when his one arm gave out. He grumbled in pain until he saw her hand out in front of him and took it with his metal hand as she helped him up. Standing up straight, he was able to view her completely and was in awe with her beauty. She was beautiful.

Her skin is much lighter than Allura and if he had to guess, she was about same height Lance. Her hair were the same color as Allura also, but she had it in a bun style with couple of strands flowing down. She wore a long, grey chiffon dress that stops barely at her ankle if she hadn't wore her white boots with one inch heels. The collar area of her dress were see-through lace with small pearls and she had a matching color arm sleeves with silver metal linings.

He smiled. "Sorry, I am one of those people...umm... I never got your name. My name is Takashi Shirogane, but please called me Shiro."

"I'm Romelle. You must be wondering where you are and why you are here, am I correct?"

Shiro nodded.

"Please have a seat on the bed. I need to inspect your wound before we can talk." as her hand directed to the bed.

Shiro complied and sat on the edge of the bed when she came over and kneel down close to his side with her fingers touching his side stomach. Shiro's breathing hitched with her touch and felt his cheeks slight warmer than usual.

"I'm surprised you survived with this kind of wound from Haggar."

 _Haggar._ The name still haunts Shiro as he remembered the many experiments she had done to him.

 ** _"You would have been our greatest weapon."_**

 _I am no weapon to the Galras._

"It was healed when I was in a healing pod."

She hummed. "Temporary. This is Haggar we are speaking. But do not worry, I've taken out her poison that were still in your body."

"Poison?" as Shiro's body froze. "What do you mean?"

"I can explain more in detail later, but there's someone you should meet." as she stood up. "I want you to take it easy and slowly right now before I can update you."

She looked at the door. "Please come in."

The door swooshed open and Shiro's eyes went wide open along with his mouth as he watched the very person he thought he wouldn't be able to find.

"Hey Shiro." the person smiled and scratching the back of his head.

"Matt. But how? Wait." as Shiro looked back at Romelle. "Is this-are you a rebellion group?"

She shrugged. "You can say that. It doesn't have a name nor something catchy like the Blade of Marmora."

 _She knows the Blade of Marmora?_

Matt walked in closer to the pair and stopped as he bowed to Romelle. "Princess Romelle."

If he wasn't shock once, then he was shock again. _Princess?!_

"You're a princess?!"

She giggled. "I prefer not being address as princess when I'm out here, but I am a princess from the Planet Pollux."

Romelle looked at Matt. "I'm sure you two have lots of catching ups so feel free to relax. I have some work to be done before our next task."

"Thank you." as Matt bowed again.

"I will be in my room if you need me." She went to look at Shiro again. "Matt will know where my room is if you like to speak some more. Until then, don't do anything strenuous."

Shiro watched her leave his room with fascination of how she walked with such grace and confidence. He blinked couple of times when he saw a waving hand in front of his face.

"Earth to Shiro. You there man?" as Matt's hand still waving.

Shiro swatted his hand. "Yeah."

Matt laughed. "Oh man, you should see your face. All red and staring at Princess Romelle. So priceless."

"Shut up, Matt."

"I heard from the princess that you are the Black Paladin. She told me the gist of it. Who knew you would become some kind of hero, Shiro?"

Shiro leaned over with his elbows on his thigh. "It was unexpected and a long story to tell, but there is something you should know, Matt."

"What is it?"

"Katie, or she called herself Pidge, is a Paladin too. A Green Paladin and she has been looking for you and your father since the Kerberos mission."

Matt shook his head in disbelief and both hands were on Shiro's arms as he looked at him closer. "Pidge? That's the name of our mother's pet Budgies. It's a small bird species, just in case you didn't know, Shiro. But my baby sister is in space and fighting those aliens just like you? Why?!"

"Like I said Matt, it was unexpected." as he placed his metallic hand on Matt's. "She has grown a lot and more open with our team. Remember Keith?"

Matt nodded and smiled. "Yeah, he was like a brother to you."

"Katie is with him along with Lance and Hunk."

"How?"

"You should save those questions to Katie. I wonder how they are."

Matt bit his lower lip and released his grip. Shiro looked at him with great concerns. He placed his hand on Matt's shoulder, but saw Matt shaking his head with a small smile.

"The princess will be the one who can update you on that. Her last solo mission was a rescue one."

* * *

 _A rescue one? Who got captured? What happened and how much did I missed since I was gone?_

Shiro didn't understand himself when he arrived here. The last memory he had was defeating Zarkon when he finally got the Black bayard back. Afterwards, it was total darkness. No memories what happened.

 _ **"Follow these directions and that's where Princess Romelle resides."**_

Here he was standing in front of her door and sighing as he was nervous. He stood one long, deep breath and stood straight as he knocked on her door.

"Come in."

As the door swoosh opened, he stepped into room only to be surprised as her room was in tinted blue with several white lines connecting to several fuzzy images. With slow strides, he watches each and every one images before seeing Romelle with her eyes closed and arms straight out on her side with her hands opened.

There was an image of himself floating somewhere in darkness, another one where he was on some kind of planet, but there was an image he wished he hadn't seen and it was him with yellow eyes and evil grin.

"What is this?" as he spoke to himself.

Another image in pale red appeared behind Romelle. There was another popping up next to her side. Shiro watched in curiosity and in awed as the images became clearer with each tick.

"Keith..."

"Is that the Red Paladin's name?"

Shiro's body jolted with spook as he looked at Romelle who still had her eyes closed.

"Yes. Keith Kogane. We've known each other before the Galras came for the Blue Lion on Earth."

"Please tell me a bit more about him."

"Princess Romelle, what-" Shiro's voice paused and hitched as he saw her eyes opened, but not with her usual crystalline blue eyes. It was violet like an amethyst gem.

"Shiro, Voltron may have defeated Zarkon, but the Galra Empire has not crippled in power. His son, Prince Lotor, has taken reign and I have a very bad intuition that one of his plans involves the Red Paladin."

"I don't know much as the person himself, but Keith was orphaned at a young age and only recently, he found out he was half Galra."

"He pilots the Black Lion now while Princess Allura pilots the Blue Lion."

 _Wait. If Princess Allura is in Blue, then Lance is in Red? That's one odd match-up._

Shiro felt happy and yet, sad. It meant that Keith has taken up the leadership role when he just disappeared from Black's cockpit.

She lifted one of her arms up and with two fingers up, she swiped the image towards Shiro. It was the image of Princess Allura and dressed up Keith being carried away by two Galras. Shiro stared for several ticks while trying to comprehend the scene before him.

"This was not too long ago when one of my intels took this image. Can you see the Galra who held the Red Paladin in disguise?"

Shiro nodded as the image became clearer to see detail imagery of the Galra she pointed out. He looked smaller and less muscular than any Galras he had seen. His white hair and pointy ears were not definitely Galra, but more like Allura's Altean.

 _Wait? Is he-?_

"That's Prince Lotor, Zarkon's son. He's half Galra and half Altean. Similar signature to your Red Paladin."

"What? Keith is what?" Shiro did not want to believe it. Keith is the same as this Prince Lotor. No, he didn't want to believe it at all.

"I only said similar, but I sensed a hint of Altean when I rescued him when I had to retrieve his conscience back from one of Haggar's deep sleep magic."

"Why? Why Keith?"

"I don't know. Unlike his father, Lotor's mind is unpredictable and sadistic."

"What can I do?"

"Shiro, will you assist me with this task? Along with your friend Matt? I know he's the brother of the Green Paladin."

"How did you know?"

She smiled. "I have my ways, but will you, Black Paladin of Voltron to help me thwart Lotor's plan?"

"Yes. I will do anything to stop him."

"Thank you, Shiro. We will begin this mission in two vargas."

* * *

"Prince Lotor, are you ready for this?" as Haggar behind him with her hooded head down.

"Always, Haggar. To show these men and the universe that we are not to be taken lightly." with a grin, but hidden underneath his dark, violet mask with the Galra Empire insignia in the middle of his forehead. "Make sure this will be broadcast to them too."

"Of course."

"Excellent." as Lotor strolled into the coliseum with Haggar following behind two other Druids.

Haggar and two Druids stopped right outside of the three-pillar coliseum ring as her eyes glanced at the spectators and hearing their whispers.

 **"Who's this little fellow?"**

 **"I don't know. I've never seen him before."**

 _These fools._ As Haggar watched the Prince standing in the middle and taking in all their useless whispers with stride.

It was about time for these pathetic fools to know who will reign after Emperor Zarkon. This little coronation was stalled on purpose so that Lotor can enjoy his fun with the Red Paladin. It only meant that his plan was set and ready for fruition. Her old skin tingled in sensation with amused thoughts as she looked up at the Prince.

He took off his mask with flair as he tossed it aside with his white hair flowing along his turn to his many spectators. He smiled with his yellow eyes glimmering from the lights.

"I am Prince Lotor, the only son and heir of Emperor Zarkon." He gave a low snort at their shocked looks.

"My father built our empire on the bones of our enemies.

And with that, he was our greatest Emperor to the Galra race.

Yet, after 10,000 years of rule, the universe's answer to defeat us was Voltron."

He watched their mixed expressions of fear, disgust and anger. Perfect.

"They may have defeated Emperor Zarkon, but they have not weaken our Empire.

Because the universe can no longer doubt our strength."

Whispers of doubt became seas of unison cords of their hope and strength.

"Each ally gained only makes us stronger."

Slowly, one by one, the spectators began to stand up saluting while listening intently to their new leader.

"All those who continued to stand against us...will be crushed."

Loud cheers of 'Vrepit Sa' roared in the coliseum.

"We will continue to conquer the universe by crushing their one and only hope, Voltron." He held his open hand up straight in the air and closed it immediately in a crushing movement. "We will destoryed Voltron to avenge our Emperor and my father, Zarkon!"

 **"VREPIT SA."**

* * *

"How long do you believe it will make it to their ears, Haggar?"

"In two vargas."

"Excellent." as he dropped a small red vial in Haggar's hand while walking towards his seat and settled himself on his cushioned chair. "I thought you might find some enjoyment to find out more about him. Will this spell worked, Haggar?"

"Thank you, your highness. And yes, you have enough power within yourself to freely seek out the Red Paladin's mind. Only for a few ticks."

"What if I would like it a bit longer, hm?" as his cheek rested on his fist hand with his elbow on the arm rest.

"A druid can assist you without interference and not probing your mind."

"Excellent, Haggar. Oh, do make sure to create a few more robeasts to keep them entertain. Anyone will do."

"Yes, your highness. I will do that soon." as she bowed and turned to leave.

Lotor smiled in amusement with his other hand holding his silver wine chalice when his female servant came in when Haggar left. He took few sips of the red wine and swirled his chalice.

 _And now the games begin, my beautiful Red Paladin._

* * *

 **Thank you for reading!**


	7. From this moment on

**Author's note:** So, I thought that I would dedicate a chapter for Keith and Lance so they can have their 'bonding moment'.

 **Summary:** Fluff and angst chapter for Keith and Lance.

* * *

 _ **"I like you, Keith. I really like you."**_

Lance covered his slightly embarrassed face with both of his hands while walking through the castle's corridor as he was heading towards the kitchen hall. He shook his head and wiped his face as he looked up at the ceiling.

 _ **"I will wait for you."**_

Even though he said that he will wait for Keith's reply, but it was nerve-racking to think constantly if he will say yes or no to his feelings. It wasn't like Lance expect to fall for his moody rival, but it just happened naturally. He hoped that Keith would say yes because he want to release this heavy burden inside of his heart but there was a chance that he would say no for whatever reason.

He knew Keith would try to make a reasonable reason for the team and Lance, but unreasonable for himself as if he doesn't deserve it. He sighed as he walked into the kitchen hall and his brow quirked at the sight of an overzealous smile from Pidge versus Hunk's happy smile. With his hands in his jean's pockets, he walked over and leaned back on the counter where Hunk was baking something with blue goo again.

"Looks like someone had a good day. Find anything interesting, Pidge?" as Lance started his usual conversation.

She smiled and adjusted the glare of her glasses. "So, did you finally confess to Keith~~?"

"Is that how you want to start this conversation out, Pidge? My love life?"

"Yes. Well? Did you, Lance?" as she scooted her stool close to Lance.

Lance sighed and turned around to lean on the counter. "I did. I told him I like him and will wait for his response."

A short pause.

"WHAT? That's what you said to Keith?! Are you a teenager or something?"

"I am, Pidgey, in case you have forgotten. You know I can't force him to like me. We all know how Keith is."

"Lance's right, Pidge." as Hunk moved closer to Lance while mixing his goo batter. "Congrats, Lance!"

"Too early to congrats when Keith hasn't reciprocated my feelings yet."

"I know, Lance. What you did was a good way to let Keith step back and think. It might feel awkward for both of you for awhile, but I hope for the best."

"Thanks Hunk! You're the best buddy I can ask." as Lance went to grab a drink and popped a straw in his drink pouch.

"Oh~~~~ Then what's with the kiss~~~ How was it like to kiss Keith? Hmmm?" with Pidge leaning on the counter with her know-it-all smile.

Lance spitted out his drink and looked at Pidge. "WHAT?"

"Oh? You should remember the Castle has cameras and when Pidge was doing her usual security sweep, we saw you kissing Keith with your slippery hands all over him."

Lance glared at Pidge. "You little gremlin. Wait? What do you mean 'we'?"

"Allura and Coran saw it too." as Pidge hopped off of her seating. "Off to check on Green!"

She dashed out of the kitchen quick with Lance following her behind while yelling at her. Hunk shook his head as he continued to stir his goo batter.

* * *

An odd, spine-tingling sensation of leathery skin felt up along his legs as if it was admiring the smooth texture while brushing dangerously close underneath his outfit. He heard faint whispers with another touch on his body. It was his lips this time.

He wanted to wake up and stopped this foreign touches on his body, but felt weak and slightly aroused as he felt something tracing along his wet silk fabric. He tried to close his legs, but felt both leathery hands moving them apart and something or _someone_ was moving in-between his legs while moving both of his arms up.

He tried to move away from this unknown stranger, but it kept its grip on his wrists with one hand with another holding onto his thigh and keeping it in an awkward position. No words or sound of protests or screams came out of his mouth as he felt someone rubbing against his own erection. Only betraying sounds of feeling unknown pleasure came out of his mouth.

 _ **"...remember... feels and...touches whenever...closed.. eyes."**_

Every words were only faint sounds as he tried to return his conscience, but only to be pushed back further in his mind.

 _ **"I don't think I can let you go..."**_

Keith shot up from his bed with sweat trickling down his forehead and heavy panting with his hands gripping hard on his blanket. He wiped off the sweat with his arm and tossed his blanket open while moving half of his body over the bed as he sat in silence.

This was the second time he had that nightmare ever since he came back from their last mission. However, it felt surreal and yet, his body was telling him a different story as if it actually happened.

If it was real, then who was it? What really happened during his capture? The voice sound faintly familiar and yet, every time he tried to remember, it only gave him a slight headache. Those phantom touches only made his stomach twisted in disgust. He wanted to chop off and cut those violating hands into pieces.

Keith slumped back on his bed with an arm over his forehead as he looked up at the dark ceiling. He placed a finger over his lips and immediately thought of Lance. Lance's kiss was very different from his nightmare as it felt dominating, but with Lance, it was gentle and shy.

He never thought Lance would like him. As in like him, like him. This whole time, he thought Lance hated him. Lance would get under his skin to one-up him in everything and calling him his rival since the Garrison which he still don't remember much about him except being loud and obnoxious.

Lance pulled him into a hug and confessed to him right after he got back from the mission. Whatever happened to him during his capture must of scared Lance badly. Even Pidge ran up to him and gave a rough tackle hug. He will have to ask them what caused their worries as it will give him clues.

Another confusing issue on his mind was the masked female who helped him on the ship. Her voice was gentle like an angel as she helped pulled his conscience back to the waking world and guided him to where Black was waiting for him.

 _Who was she? Why did she helped him?_

 ** _What are you, Red Paladin?_**

 _What am I? Why did she asked me? I am only a normal human being who just found out that he's half Galra. No one special with no recollection of his own heritage._

Keith sighed. He will have to think two of his three problems later. For now, his main priority was to sort out his feelings about Lance. Lance told him he would wait for his answer. If he can't sort this out first, then it might affect their bonding and that spelled trouble if they can't form Voltron when needed in battle.

 _ **"And now you know why Red was giving me hard time. As Blue would say, you are Red's precious cub. Keith, it took me time to realize my feelings to you so you should take your time to find your own answer. I will wait for you."**_

At least, he understand why Red was giving Lance a hard time for the longest time since he thought it was because of Lance's big mouth. He wondered how long it took Lance to confess to him. More like, when did Lance developed his feeling towards him? Does he expect to like him beyond a friend?

"Ugh. Why is it so hard?!" as he flopped his face on the pillow.

He will continue to mope a couple of ticks on his bed before heading to the training room. He needed to vent out his confusion and frustration.

* * *

"I see you haven't lost your usual temperamental fire." as Lance crossed his arms while leaning on the wall in the training room.

"End sequence." Keith called out as the Gladiator bot disappeared while deactivating his bayard. The Black bayard.

Lance's eyes were still glued on the Black bayard in Keith's hand as it still looked out of place. Then again, he held the Red bayard too and it confused anyone whoever they encountered in their mission why the odd color change-ups. His excuse was to make it lively.

"What do you want, Lance?" as Keith sauntered over his spot near where Lance was standing and grabbed his drink pouch.

"I just came to check by. That's all."

"Lance, I-"

"Keith, it's alright. I'm not here for that since I did told you that I can wait until you're ready. I'm only here to see if you're doing okay."

"I'm fine, Lance."

"You don't look fine at all by that ugly bag under your eyes. You haven't slept well, did you?"

"It's nothing."

Lance sighed. _Oh why did I have to fall for this hot-tempered denying fool?_ "Talk to me, Keith. I am not Shiro, but I'm here for you."

Keith moved in front of Lance and stared into his blue eyes. "Tell me what happened with you and Pidge."

"What do you mean, buddy?"

Keith dropped his pouch and grabbed Lance's shirt and jacket as he pulled him close. "Just tell me what happened. I can tell how you and Pidge acted when we came back on our last mission."

Lance placed his hands on Keith's. "Do you really want to know? I'll let you know. Pidge and I were scared shitless when we saw you taken away by that Galran Prince Lotor."

"What?" with his brows furrowed. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Keith, we all saw you being carried away by him! Coran, Hunk, Pidge, Slav, and I saw you when someone sent the image to the Castle ship."

"You sure it's not Allura he took?"

Lance shook his head. "She was carried by one of his ugly guard." He paused. "Did you remember something that kept you from your sleep?"

"No." as Lance felt Keith's grip becoming loose, but he knew Keith was shaking. "No, I don't remember anything. More like, I don't know what happened when I was unconscious."

 _And yet, my body remembered what happened. Did Lotor-? Was it really him who...did something while I was unconscious? No, that's impossible. Reports only said he goes for beautiful females._

"Bullshit. Your hands are shaking, Keith. Something did happened to you! There's no way that Lotor can let you go scotch-free. He did something against your will or else you wouldn't be acting like this."

"No... I really don't know." as Keith felt his rapid breathing. "I-I just need to be alone to think now."

The moment Keith released his grip on Lance and turned away, he felt a grip on his wrist and looked up to see Lance with his fuming expression.

"You are not running away from this, Keith. I am not letting this go until you tell me."

"You want to know? Fine, Lance, I can tell you! I didn't want to be leader." as Keith pushed Lance hard to the wall with his arm up on his chest. "I didn't asked to be one because Shiro was the one who thought of it. I was hoping for Allura to take over, but Black does not see her fit yet."

With another breathing. "I want to find Shiro so bad, but I cannot be blind with that ambition when there are others out there under the Galra Empire's control that needed our help. To be free from their totalitarian ways. Not only that, I cannot have my emotion faltered in battle or in front of anyone. The way I act as a leader of Voltron will be judge by others of how we work under my pale leadership skills."

He placed his forehead on his arm. "While I can't even solve my own damn problems. Who and what am I? Why did Shiro choose me as the leader when there are others better than me? You've would been a better choice too."

Lance glanced down and saw how shaken Keith was. _Did he kept all these feelings bottled up with no one to vent to?_

"Why do people say I'm something special when I am nothing?"

 _That's it._ Lance was not having none of that from Keith as he wrapped his arms around Keith tight and rested his cheek on top of his head. Keith's body were in trembles and held him even closer. His mother always told him that sometimes words are not needed to tell the person that they cared. Just action alone can help mend their broken soul.

He whispered in a soft tone. "I'm here for you, Keith. You may find me an obnoxious wise crack of the team, but I'm really a good listener. My mom told me that there will be certain people out there who only needed someone to listen to their problems."

Lance gave a gentle, circular motion rub on Keith's back. "Can I be that someone to you, Keith?"

What felt like an eternity but only a few ticks, Keith gave a soft nod as he buried his face on Lance's chest.

"You are lucky that the awesome Lance didn't wear his favorite shirt or else I would make you clean it." as he gave a gentle stroke on Keith's hair and smiled.

Keith snorted.

It was a lie since he was wearing his favorite shirt, but at least, he was able to cheer Keith up a bit. Lance blinked a couple of times and looked down to actually see Keith fell asleep in his arms.

 _Well quiznak._

Lance sighed in defeat and adjusted himself into a better position as he carried the sleeping Keith on his back. He felt heavier than he looked as he wished he had Hunk's strength to carry him. Luckily, Keith's room was not far from the training room so he would endure it a bit longer and probably need a good massage afterwards.

His skin tickled by Keith's warm, steady breathing on his neck and wondered how many ticks of sleep did Keith actually get. By the look and sound of it, it wasn't much. With some grumbles, he finally made to Keith's room as he headed towards his bed and carefully laid Keith down while sitting up to take off his jacket and adjusted his body down on the bed on his back while taking off his boots. He fanned his blanket out and over Keith's body.

He sat on the edge of Keith's bed as he leaned over to adjust the pillow so Keith can sleep comfortably. His hand over Keith's forehead and brushing away his bangs. Lance smiled as he continued to watch Keith as he looked beautiful when asleep. He was about to get up and leave when he heard Keith's sleepy voice.

"Please stay with me."

Lance smiled and went back to his seating. "Okay. I'll stay. Rest up, love."

If Lance had blink during that moment, then he would have missed that small smile on Keith's face, but he didn't. That was when he began to understand Keith more.

 _You're not type who can express emotions by words, but with actions. That's so like you, Keith._

 _And that's why I like you._

* * *

 **Thank you for reading!**


	8. A Beautiful Nightmare (Part 1)

**Author's note:** Thank you for the wonderful comments, **The Best Guesst**! I appreciated it so much! This is another two-part chapter will be based on Episode 12 from 1984 version of Voltron. I will be adding a certain scene we saw in the season 3 trailer in the next chapter.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Summary:** Keith is beginning to find out his dreaded fate.

* * *

"Prince Lotor, if you may, I wish to explore and gather some useful materials for future purposes." as Haggar stood beside Lotor who was watching the view of vast space from his other private chamber.

"Oh? This is quite rare for you, Haggar, to be away from my Father's side. What has caught your mind?" as he tapped his fingers on his crossed arm.

"On Planet Nemon, there is a rare mineral known as Nemonium that I wish to obtain and use for a certain purpose."

"I've heard about that. Why must you go there yourself when I can order them to bring it here, witch?"

She smirked. "My prince, I will be visiting the Planet Lyra also to pick up a certain flower for a very special purpose."

Lotor gave an evil laugh and glanced at Haggar. "I see. Then I wish you luck and feel free to use anything at your disposal."

Haggar bowed and turned when she felt a cold hand on her shoulder. Lotor lowered himself close within hearing range and whispered close to her hooded ear.

"If you get to encounter my lovely Red Paladin, please send him my best regards."

A sinister grin appeared on her face as she bowed again. "With pleasure, my prince."

Lotor stood up with his hand back to where it was before and continued with star gazing, but watched Haggar leaving from the reflection off of the window. He smiled as he reminisced his few personal encounters with the Red Paladin, but his second meeting was still vivid and short for his liking.

His fingers couldn't forget the feel of the Red Paladin's smooth skin; smoother than any male species he has encounter before. Those low murmuring sounds of pleasure were melodies to his Altean ears and only excites him more as he could tell this one was still pure. He wonders what other beautiful sounds can he bring out from the Red Paladin's sweet mouth.

"Hmm..." as he tapped his arm again and smirked. "It's time for our beautiful nightmare to begin, my dear Keith."

* * *

"Princess, the Castle's scanner has picked up a distress signal from an unknown craft. Should we check it out?" as Coran looked over his shoulder from his control station.

"We should check it out. What should we do, Keith?" as her fingers typing on her right holoscreen for the location coordinates.

"Lance will go with Hunk and take the Yellow Lion to go check out the ship first. We will be on stand-by."

"Aye aye mon capitaine~" as Lance flashed his sexy smile at Keith while doing a mock salute which made Keith sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

He wondered if he made the right decision about Lance and their so-called relationship. He wasn't sure how to go forward with Lance, but was grateful how patient Lance was with him. Keith can only hope Lance can tone down his affection down a notch, but the way Lance just did, it was a no-go. He sighed with his shoulders slumped down since he underestimated how affectionate Lance is like a cat.

"Just take him away, Hunk." as Pidge made a gagging motion with her finger into her mouth. "Lance's stupid PDA is quite sickeningly sweet to handle."

Lance's brow quirked. "Aww'd. Don't be jealous because I am showing my awesome affectionate love to Keith and not to you, Pidge."

"Okay!" as Hunk grabbed Lance by the back of his shirt-jacket and dragged him out of the bridge. "Let's go, Mr. Casanova."

Pidge slapped her forehead on her palm as she had to see Lance blew a flirtatious kiss to their current leader, Keith, who in turn, stood like a stiff statue and his face being beet red with Coran and Allura looking all over him as they poked him. Pidge chuckled happily as she felt relieved that Keith has opened up slightly to Lance and the rest of the team.

At the same time, she felt guilty to feel this way when she doesn't know where her father and brother are. Her head tilted down consciously when she felt depressed until a familiar touch was on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Keith with a gentle smile.

"We won't give up finding your family, Pidge. I haven't forgotten that promise."

Pidge nodded and wiped her eyes with her sleeve arm. She believed in his words because that's how special Keith is to her. He may said some harsh words in the past about her selfish wish to find her family, but now, they both have grown to accept their duties and responsibilities for their Paladin roles. With Keith, he had given her opportunities to find any clues whenever they have the chance to infiltrate Galra ships disguised as missions as long she can kept her tasks in mind ever since he became their leader.

For that, she was grateful for Keith and deep down inside of her, she felt a little envy with Lance and was glad that Red was on her side. She chuckled at the thought which made Keith quirked his brow at her.

"Oh nothing. Just remembering how Lance blew a good-bye kiss to you, Keith~" with a huge grin on her face.

Keith looked cute with rosy cheeks along with the way he tried to look angry while turning away. She was going to keep this secret to herself. As long Keith is happy, she's happy too.

Their awkward silence broken when they heard a beep from an incoming message. Coran went straight to his control panel and pressed the button to accept the message.

"Coran." as they heard Lance's voice through the bridge's communication system. "You should have one healing pod ready. We are bringing someone on board."

"Gotcha Lance! It will be ready in two ticks!"

* * *

"Coran, do you know what kind of species is this?" as Lance examined up, down, and side-to-side of the cryopod.

"Nemonians from the Planet Nemon. It's a dry, desert planet, but with excellent technology for their water irrigation system. From what my last recollections, they were heavily enslaved by Zarkon for their known Nemonium metal."

"Nemonium metal?" as Slav popped up next to Coran. "That's what the Galra Empire used for their weaponry especially with their ion cannon and the two wings of the Black Lion."

They looked at Slav with suspicion in their eyes. "What? You all bored me with this low graded Castle systems so I checked out the exterior with each of the highly sophisticated Lions."

"Black."

"Green."

"Blue."

"Yellow."

"Red."

All they heard was their amusing purring and somehow, they enjoyed Slav's rubbing on their armor as their chosen Paladins groaned.

"Anyway, Pidge, were you able to find out anything from the ship's database?"

"After Lance and Hunk made a clear go ahead on the ship, I was able to hack in and download their data. I am still decryption their data, but I found something else... "

"What is it, Pidge?" Allura asked.

Pidge bit her lower lip. "There was a recording in their database. A recording of Prince Lotor's coronation."

"Show it, Pidge." Keith said in his commanding voice.

Pidge took a quick glance at Keith and nodded as she retrieved her file. She pressed play when the video started out statically until clear where it showed a three-pillar coliseum filled with Galra soldiers and that's when Keith felt his breath hitched hard and took a step back.

Lance stood next to Keith immediately and held one of his hand when he looked down as he saw and felt Keith's hand trembling and cold. He looked back at the screen with fierce glaring at the one in the center of the coliseum.

 ** _"I am Prince Lotor, the only son and heir of Emperor Zarkon."_**

 _No, it can't be._

 ** _"My father built our empire on the bones of our enemies._**

 ** _And with that, he was our greatest Emperor to the Galra race._**

 ** _Yet, after 10,000 years of rule, the universe's answer to defeat us was Voltron."_**

 _Why does he sound like the person in his nightmares?_

 _ **"They may have defeated Emperor Zarkon, but they have not weaken our Empire.**_

 _ **Because the universe can no longer doubt our strength."**_

 _Why does he sound like him?_

 _ **"Each ally gained only makes us stronger."**_

Keith watched closely as the cameras turned until it was in full view of Lotor in his full royal armor similar to Zarkon without the cape, but with mix hues of blue and purple.

 _He has Altean ears just like Allura and him._

 _ **"All those who continued to stand against us...will be crushed."**_

His violet eyes dilated with horror and confusion with flashbacks of his first meeting with Sincline at the hot spring bombarded his mind. The way he held his naked body closed to his and caressing his face with some kind of admiration.

But his haze memory from his time on Planet Scythia became clear. It was him who walked into his room. He recognized the outfit and his voice, but most of all, it was that same caressing feel on his face that his body remembered even though he wanted to forget it. Another flashback showing Lotor's joker-like smile as he came close to his face before he passed out.

He wanted to make sure his assumption was correct.

His voice croaked. "Is that him, Lance? The one you saw in the image. Please tell me the truth."

Lance gave a blank stare at Keith's profile while giving a slight squeeze on his hand before nodding to him. Keith wasn't sure what happened next, but the last thing he heard was everyone calling out his name when his body lost the will to stand. Lance calling out his name with desperation as he held onto his body tight to lessen his fall with everything became black.

And there was an amused chuckled slithered through his chaotic mind.

 _I can find you anywhere._

* * *

 **Thank you for reading!**


	9. A Beautiful Nightmare (Part 2)

**Author's Note:** I had a great inspiration for this chapter's introduction after I saw the artwork on DeviantArt and the link is in the chapter for special credit! So expect a nice twist in future chapters. ;D

As mentioned in previous chapter, this one was loosely based from Episode 12: Bad Birthday Party from Voltron '84.

* * *

 **Summary:** The start of Lotor's mind games with a special guest for Keith.

Voltron versus Twin Devil Robeasts.

And Lance gets a special reward for his awesomeness.

* * *

His dreamscape was barren and rocky similar to the unknown planet that he and Shiro had crashed before when the wormhole became unstable from their last fight with Zarkon, but the atmosphere was much grayer and bleak. Keith's violet eyes looked around with confusion and lost until he saw someone walking towards him. He stood still when the figure came closer and clearer in view.

"Shi-" His words paused midway when his body trembled in slight fear and more confusion.

The gentle grey eyes he used to see were replaced with glowing yellow like the Earth's sun. He felt the taunting aura coming from the person as a glow of purple radiated from his left side. He was wearing his armor-his Black Paladin armor.

"Shiro?"

Shiro stopped within close proximity of Keith's personal space and placed his glowing, prosthetic hand on his cheek. Keith expected some kind of burning feel from what he remembered when Shiro used his Galra hand for his attacks, but he felt nothing. His smile was wide and devious; it was far from Shiro's usual appreciative smiles.

"Keith." His tone was deeper with a sinister undertone. "I've come for you."

"For...me? Shiro? Where have you been?"

Shiro's prosthetic hand moved down to the middle of his chest and gave Keith a rough push back into sheer darkness behind him as he slowly follows in.

Next thing Keith knew was the feeling of thin, icy black smokes slithering around his naked body with one in a binding motion around his wrists and another covering his eyes. His bare skin tingled with goosebumps when he felt claw-like hands moving all over his body with his back on something firm and furry.

"Shiro?" His voice came out of a whisper. "Where's Shiro?"

He heard an amusing chuckled from behind and his breath hitched when he felt a leathery touch went between his legs and pulling them apart and opened wide. There were bursts of warm air blowing dangerously close to his sensitive area and his body went into full shivers as he felt someone licking him like a hungry predator.

"He's right here." as the purring voice dipped in lust. "Right here between your lovely legs and enjoying his special treat."

Keith shook his head and tries to get up, but his body was pinned down with tight grips from both of his captors. Lotor was holding him down by his waist up while Shiro was holding him by his thighs with both hands.

" _Lotor_."

His nose nuzzled his cheek while his hand continues to admire Keith's tone chest. "It sounds beautiful when you said my name. I can feel a hint of venom behind it. I want to hear it again."

Keith was torn between growling at Lotor and mewling in pleasure from Shiro's tongue when it went from licking his outer soft tissue to sticking into his wet hole. It caused Keith's back to arch and his breathing became sporadic with another hand wrapped around his harden cock and stroking in a slow pace. All his body can do from those violating touches was twisting around as he tried to break free.

"Stop..." With another moan. "No! Stop it."

"Shh... I'm in charge here, Red Paladin." With his warm, moist tongue licking at Keith's exposed neckline and administering his strokes with slow, teasing pace. "Mmm... Your purring is quite enticing."

His finger tip laid at the tip of Keith's cock and wobbling it in a playful manner."Looks like our time is up. Next time, we'll do something a bit more enticing. Aren't we, Champion?"

Shiro smirked and nodded as he looked up while wiping his mouth with his Paladin uniform sleeve.

He turned Keith's head towards his direction and gave him a rough kiss.

* * *

"SHIRO!" as Keith's body bolted up in a sitting position with his hands gripping hard on his sheet, breathing heavily and sweat trickling down his forehead.

"Keith. Buddy. Love. It's okay." as Lance pulled him close in a tight embrace while rubbing Keith's back. "You're here in your room with me. With us in the Castle ship."

"Lance..." as his body relaxed in Lance's warm embrace and his non-annoying soothing voice.

"Hey. I won't ask until you're ready, but don't keep it to yourself too long, okay?" as Lance held his shivering partner tight. "I'm here for you."

Keith nodded, raised both of his hands halfway up behind Lance's blue robe and gripped it hard as he buried his face deep into his shoulder. Lance gave gentle pats on Keith's back until he felt his breathing becoming stable as he adjusted himself into a comfortable position with his back on the wall while cradling Keith in his arms. He knew his body will be terribly sore in the morning, but he doesn't care at the moment.

Right now, Keith needs him and he will be there when he wakes up. But did Keith just dream about Shiro? He heard him calling out his name in his sleep, but the sound of confusion in his voice indicates his dream wasn't a pleasant one. Keith was moaning in his sleep and telling someone to stop was suspicious enough for Lance to deduce it as a nightmare. But what kind of nightmare?

Whatever it was, he will be there to help Keith with his problems even if the idiot tries tell him that he's fine. Keith trusted him and when the time comes, he'll step up if Keith falters.

 _Lotor._ He doesn't hold much hatred for anyone, but this will be a first for him to do so. He knew he was the cause of Keith's distress along with nightmares haunting him in his time of rest. If he ever get to encounter that bastard prince in person, he will make sure to blast him into oblivion with his red bayard.

Lance's eyes glanced up at the dark ceiling and gave a small smile. _Okay Red. I will make sure to leave some for you too._

Red's nose nuzzles on Lance's cheek and somehow, Lance swore he could feel her astral body curled up next to his body with her tail resting loosely on Keith's collar area. He looked down at his and Keith's clasp hands and felt the warm, gentle nuzzles of Black's nose as she curled herself next to Keith. He chuckled when he felt Blue's presence wiggling underneath his free arm since his other arm was used as a pillow for Keith and rest her paws underneath her chin on his lap with her tail wrapping around his arm.

He looked at Keith and brushed away some strands from his sleeping face. He smiled.

"Look at the love you're getting tonight from our lions." as he leans over and kisses on Keith's forehead. "I expect some compensation when you wake up too!"

Lance closed his eyes with a smile as his head felt something big and soft cushioning him. It seems all the Lions were here to comfort their Paladin leader and himself. He whispers a soft _'thank you'_ before sleep took over.

* * *

"So, how are we supposed to get through that magnetic storms and meteor showers?"

"We'll have to fly through it with Voltron. Coran will stay behind the Castle and watch for any Galra fleets."

"I don't know Keith, it's tricky to fly through without getting hit by those meteors."

"Don't worry, Hunk. I'll be taking the controls to maneuver while you guys try to deflect any meteors heading towards us."

"Let's leave it to our fearless leader to guide us safely to Planet Nemon."

"And I'm expecting our great sharpshooter to take care of those rocks easily."

Lance blew a raspberry at Keith through their video communication.

"You wait and see, Mullet. I'll make you appreciate my awesome skill."

Keith chuckled. "I can't wait. Okay team, let's form Voltron and try to free the people of Nemon from Zarkon's rule."

"YEAH!"

* * *

"I think I am going to throw up now." as Hunk covered his mouth and held his stomach.

"I'm surprised you were able to last that long, Hunk." as Pidge's face grimaces when Hunk finally threw up in his cockpit.

"That's gross, man. I hope you stashed some bags for easy clean up!"

"Sorry Hunk. Didn't meant to make it like a roller-coaster ride."

Hunk's face looks green, but gave a weak smile. "I'm fine, Keith. I trust your piloting."

"Sorry to intrude, Paladins, but we have a bigger issue here."

Jai, one of the Nemonians they rescued awhile ago, was standing behind Princess Allura's seat inside of her Lion and pointed at the imagery shown. His people were buried neck deep in the hot sand as the Galra soldiers were ready to attack them.

"They're going to execute my people. My friends! Please save them, Paladins of Voltron!"

"That's what we're here for. We will have to drop you off so you can help them escape. We will provide the diversion."

Jai nodded as Voltron lands carefully behind a gigantic, dark creepy statue. Blue opened her jaw up for Jai to run and get his people to safety as they were buried neck deep in the hot sand. Lance looked up and quirked his brow.

"Guys, guess who's next to us?"

They all looked at what caught Lance's attention and were quite shock to see an ugly statue of Zarkon standing in all his glory.

"Let's just whack it."

"Alright then. Form Blazing Sword!"

A few minutes later.

"Oh just whack it you said. AND NOW LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!" as Hunk begins to panic per usual.

"HUNK! NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO PANIC!" as Lance pulled his controller back to block an incoming attack.

"IT IS TIME TO PANIC BECAUSE WE NEVER FOUGHT TWO ROBEASTS AT ONCE BEFORE!"

"Calm down you two. Panic won't solve our problem. We just have to defeat them."

"Easy for you to say Keith. Our sword didn't make a scratch on their shields."

"But Blue and Yellow Lions were able to bite their legs to phase them temporary. We have to strike them before they get up again."

"Uh guys. In case you haven't noticed, the red twin demon robeast is now behind us." as Allura spoke up.

"Doom shield at 45 degrees!" Hunk yelled.

"Got it!" as Lance responded when he swung the sword at the dark greenish disk in front, but it exploded in front of them on impact. Same goes with the one from the back. "Or not."

Unable to recover quickly, the green moss-colored twin demon robeast, who was in front of Voltron, shot a rocket out of his stomach where it landed on Voltron's chest which it stunned them. The same robeast shot again as Voltron tried to block it, but it gave enough distraction for the other robeast to attack them from behind and striking down hard on their back with its long sword. It sliced off one of Voltron's wings. The pilots cursed their luck and quickly flew out before both robeasts can attack them simultaneously as Voltron landed wobbly on one knee on the statue's pedestal.

"Are you guys alright?" Keith asked.

"Yeah." as they all replied.

"Keith. That red robeast just sliced off one of Black's wings."

 _I'm so sorry, Black. Are you okay, girl?_

Black purred. Keith apologized again and nodded.

"She says she's fine, but we need to focus on defeating the twin robeasts first."

"And how are we going to do that?"

Keith held his Black bayard up. "I hope you are good at wielding the sword as you shoot Lance because we have one shot to defeat them."

Lance smirked. "Oh it's on. I'll show you my awesome prowess."

"Heh. I'll reward you if you can prove your awesome prowess." Keith smirked back and glanced at Pidge's screen. "Pidge, I need you to aim your laser cannon at the ugly green one in the face first to stun it. That's when I will place my bayard in its slot to give the sword an extra fire power to strike through their shields."

"Got it, Keith!"

"Hunk, Princess Allura, I need you both to time your movements since it's not possible to fly away easily to dodge."

"We got it, Keith. You can trust us." with Allura smiling and Hunk nodding.

Keith smiled. "I do. Okay guys, let's show them that Voltron will not tolerate the Galra Empire's tyrant rule."

* * *

Haggar watched from a safer distance in her cloak shuttle as she watched Voltron defeated her twin robeast that she had bought with her to the planet. At first, she wanted to bring out only one robeast to defeat them, but after they destroyed her Emperor's statue; she was furious. Those Paladins will pay dearly for their treachery. Next time, she will create a much stronger robeast to defeat them.

Until then, she got a tiny satisfaction when the red robeast clipped off one of their wings. She gave a sly grin as this will give them a sweet advantage to their plan. She can already envision the slow break down within the Red Paladin and none of his dearest teammates will notice until it's too late.

She has what she needed on this pathetic, sandy planet for her own special plan and no reason to stay longer once Voltron freed the pathetic creatures. Her next destination will be Planet Lyra to grab a special gift for the Red Paladin from Prince Lotor. It seems the prince wanted to confirm a certain suspicion before his plan can move to the final phase.

The Red Paladin has not fallen as they expected and that did not settled well with the prince. He needed to know who was interfering with his fun as he has zero tolerance for those who interrupting his game.

 _If the Red Paladin pilots the Black Lion, then who is piloting the Red Lion in his place?_ As Haggar thought.

 _There's no way the Red Lion accepts any new pilot when it still has its current pilot alive unless it is someone whom he can place his utmost trust on._

The same person who has been keeping the Red Paladin away from Prince Lotor's deadly game of cat and mouse.

And Haggar just know a perfect plan to lure out his precious protector.

* * *

"Do no worry, Keith. Slav and I will work on fixing the Black Lion's wing before we head out. It's not your fault." as Coran placed his hand on Keith's shoulder.

Keith just stared at Black. "Shiro wouldn't have let this happened to Black."

Coran looked at Keith with concern eyes. "Keith..."

"Okay Mullet!" as Coran and Keith both turned their heads at the loud noise. "Where's my reward for my awesome prowess!? I know you all saw how great my swing was. It was like out of an action movie!"

Keith gave a soft snort. "But you made Princess Allura's piloting look better than yours when you tried to kick and fell."

Lance stopped in his track and pointed at Keith. "Hey! I was still learning at that time."

Keith quirked a brow. "So? Allura had much lesser time with Blue and we didn't fall when she had Blue kicked the robeast's sword out."

"Why you!" as Lance was about to pounce at him when he felt someone was holding him up from his collar shirt. He looked back with a fierce glare. "Let go of me Hunk!"

"No can do, Lance." when both Pidge and Allura popped from both sides behind Hunk to watch Lance's flailing tantrum. Lance looked like a cat being hold by its scruff.

Keith shook his head and headed towards the group with a small smile on his face. He stopped within a few inches in front of them and waited until Lance gave up his useless flailing and just crossed his arms with a pout.

"It's not much, but here's your reward, Lance."

Lance blinked and looked at Keith when he saw him holding onto his front collar of his shirt and tugged him close to his face as Keith kissed him on his lips. His blue eyes dilated wide and blinking several times until Keith pulled himself away and smiled. He gave a quick peck on his cheek and patted his chest as he walked away from his spectators' surprised look while waving at them.

Without much thought, Hunk just released his grip on Lance which made him fall down on his butt with a loud thud. Lance was cursing under his breath while rubbing his now bruised butt.

"Dude." as Hunk looked down at Lance. "Is that really Keith? Our Keith? The Keith who wouldn't do anything out in the open unless necessary. I mean, he likes to keep a lot things to himself, but he just kissed you openly in front of us!"

"Wow Lance. Whatever you did, keep it up!" as Allura clapped her hands and crouch down. "As Voltron's right hand, you are Keith's right-handed man whom he has placed his utmost trust on you! How else he believed in you during our today's battle?"

Lance looked at the hard floor with his mind rewinding back to their last battle.

Pidge adjusted the glare of her glasses. "Heh~~ That's a huge upgrade Lance. You should be proud of yourself."

Lance turned around to look at the trio and his eyes became wide and the trio swore that they saw shiny sparkles in them with his hands together.

"I know I'm the best, but who knew that I'll be so great! This must be a dream." as Lance pinched his own cheek. "Nope! It's real! Oh man, I'm so awesome!"

The trio looked at each other while shrugging and just smiled as they watched and listened to Lance's ongoing blabbering. Coran just scratches his head with one finger and just shrugs it off. He assumes it was their own special way of bonding.

* * *

Thank you for reading!


	10. Revelations

**Author's note:** I feel so stupid and noticed I skipped a chapter before so I had to fix and looks much better flow. I'm sorry! _

* * *

 **Summary:** Romelle reveals the truth to Shiro.

Lance and Keith have their first date.

* * *

Blood splatters.

Glowing yellow eyes.

A devil smile.

 _No. That's not true. It's not me. That's not me._

 _ **Stop denying.** _

_Who are you?_

 ** _Heh~ How cruel, Shiro._**

 ** _I am you~_**

Shiro's eyes flew wide open and almost choked on his sudden gasp of air as he coughed and controlling his rapid breathing and heart beat.

 _That dream..._

 ** _If only it was a dream, my dear weak self._**

It felt like he was talking to himself except the voice sounds more sinister and deeper. Shiro shook his head with his Galra hand on his face.

 _ **I cannot wait to be free.** _

_No. I can't let you._

His other self laughed.

 ** _You can't stop us. You will witness the fall of an angel soon._**

 _Fall of an angel? Who is it? Is he talking about one of his friends? Allura? Who's us? What are you talking about?_

He smiled.

 _ **Ask your pretty princess.**_

He retreats from Shiro's mind. Shiro just stares dumbfound at his bed with his mind processing the cryptic message from himself. Himself? He was confused. Very much confuse and can feel uneasiness churning in his stomach. It told him to talk with the princess. Was it referring to Romelle?

Shiro combed back his sweat-drenched hair and pull the blanket over to get off his bed when his bare feet landed on cold metal floor. Sleep was impossible now as he went to freshen himself up and hopefully, he could speak with Romelle about it. It has been bothering him for awhile with those taunting.

He found Romelle, alone, in center of the bridge with her back on him when he entered. He moved closer to her side where he can view her sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, which was hidden underneath her pearl blue dress, her eyes closed and her hands in an odd position. Her hands were at chest level, but her fingers were pose in a slanted rectangular shape with index to thumb at opposite ends.

"Have a seat, Shiro. I can sense your weariness."

Shiro nodded and went to sit down in front of her with his legs crossed. "I've been having this taunting dreams lately."

"What kind of dreams?"

"It felt like something inside of me has awakened. And it told me to ask you."

Romelle opened her eyes and relaxed her hands down on her lap. "Shiro, do you remember your times in captivity with the Galras?"

Shiro shook his head. "I don't. They were all blurs in my memory."

"I've watched you."

His body froze and his grey eyes stares deep into her blue eyes. "Watched me?"

"When I was still a prisoner with the Galras, I saw you. Not your current you, but a deadly you in the arena."

"What do you mean by that? I-"

Romelle held her up hand up. "Shiro, Haggar experimented you. I don't know what she did, but whatever it was, she was trying to make you evil."

 _ **"You would have been our greatest weapon."**_

Shiro gave a weak chuckle. "Haggar told me on our last fight that I would have been their greatest weapon. Me? A walking, breathing weapon for the Galra Empire."

"Shiro." Romelle grabs his prosthetic hand with both of her hands and held it close to her chest. "We will find a way to help prevent that to happen."

He nods, but his body jolts up when he heard and saw Matt walking in the bridge with a smile on his face and calling out Romelle's name. Matt paused and blinked at the scene before him. Shiro's face went red and tried to yank his hand out, but for a petite-sized princess, she has a very strong grip.

She looked at Matt. "Sounds like you have good news."

He smiled. "I do. Well, there's bad news too, but let's go with good news since I'm in this mood. I finally know how to track where the ship that carries Voltron crew are at."

Hope was shimmering bright in Shiro's eyes. He missed his friends, his teammates.

"Are you positive, Matt?"

"Yes. I've been following the patterns from various sources where they have been sighted and I was able to connect the dots."

"And the bad news?"

Matt frowns and looks at Romelle. "There are actually two bad news. First one was there was a solo sighting of the witch, Haggar."

"Just Haggar?"

Matt nodded. "Still waiting for more information, but that's what I was given. And secondly, Princess Romelle, there was a private message sent specifically for you from your younger brother."

Romelle releases Shiro's hand and stands up immediately as she walks in a fast pace to Matt.

"Please show me the message."

Matt nods and hands her a tablet with the message as Shiro stands beside her.

 _My dear sister Romelle. I hope you haven't forgot about me. It's your brother, Bandor. I heard Prince Lotor has granted your release._

They watched Romelle's hands clutching hard on the tablet. They both knew it was a lie.

 _Please come back to Planet Pollux soon, sis! I missed you! Father will forgive you if you do. Plus, big brother got his wish granted by the prince!_

Romelle gasps and shakes her head in disbelief. "No, it can't be true."

 _I hope you can come back soon! There will be a huge celebration! I gotta go now, sis. I hope you get this message soon! Love you, sister._

 _\- Prince Bandor_

Shiro looks at Romelle and places his hand on her shoulder. Romelle looks up.

"We are heading to Pollux immediately. We need to prevent this to happen."

"Princess?"

Romelle turns around and looks at Shiro. "Shiro, I need you to try reconnecting with your Black Lion. It needs to know you're alive and track you."

"Romelle?"

She turns to Matt. "It's about time for your reunion with your sister. Leave her some trails to follow us."

Matt nods.

"It's a trap. For us and Voltron."

"He wants to destroy us in one go."

"It's more than that, Shiro." as she walks towards the main panel and places her hand on its interface. "He's doing this to mask his actual plan. His personal plan."

 _I cannot believe I had overlook his sick, twisted game. The answer was right in front of me all along._

"What is it, Romelle? Tell us."

Her hand clenches into a fist with her shoulders tensing up.

 _His mind has became more twisted and calculating than before. Lotor wouldn't plan anything this elaborate. He knew something and waited for the right moment to strike._

 _And it will happen on Planet Pollux._

"His sick game of cat and mouse. He wants the Red Paladin."

* * *

"Lance, where the hell are you taking me? What's with this blindfold?"

"Chill, love. We're almost there so quit your complaints."

"Have I told you that your piloting still sucks?"

Lance rolls his eyes. "Since we found Blue. As you quote, 'You are the worst pilot ever.' Unquote."

Keith chuckles. "You still are when you're trying to be flashy."

"Oh? How about when I am not flashy?"

"Not telling you, Lance."

Lance turns his seat around and smiles at Keith who just sits with one leg up in an arch and other crossed underneath with his arm resting on his knee while at the corner of his cockpit with his eyes covered.

"Heh~~" as Lance made a quiet slip off of his chair, saunters towards Keith, and situates himself next to him with his arm around his shoulder. "Tell me. I'm curious."

"You put Red on autopilot."

"Of course. How else I am here? But don't change to subject." Lance's finger playfully twirls around Keith's soft cheek with his nose nuzzling against another. "Come on, Keith~ I know how ticklish you are."

Keith squirms while holding back his laugh. "You wouldn't dare to."

"Oh you know I would and I will."

"Fine. I see you as equal."

Lance blinks and stares at Keith's profile. _His equal?_

Keith was the best pilot behind Shiro, but saying that he was the same level as him. Lance wasn't sure how to respond. It made speechless for the first time in his life.

Keith cocks his head. "Are you okay, Lance? You seem quiet."

He shook his head and took a deep breath to regain his composure. Lance was not positive if he was still dreaming so he pinched himself. He wasn't dreaming.

"Have I told you how much I like you a lot?"

"Plenty of times. You kept calling me love too."

Lance chuckles. "We're almost there. One more varga to go. I'm glad Allura allowed us to go ahead."

"Not sure how you were able to convince her."

He grins. "How about we just enjoy our quiet alone time together? I want you to appreciate our first date."

Their first date. Lance seems very excited and happy when he mentioned it. For Keith, it feels foreign. Everything feels new to him. He feels happy and yet, scared at the same time. What if he doesn't enjoy their date? Will Lance stop liking him and move on? Too many what-ifs were floating in his mind.

He felt a soothing motion on his arm and his tense feel were soothe away as it felt good. His head found its way onto his partner's shoulder with his nose taking in his unique scent. Lance smells like the sea and fresh lavender. He smells good.

Lance giggles. "That tickles."

Keith just smiles and continues to nuzzle him.

* * *

"Where are we, Lance? What am I stepping on? Why it smells so floral?"

Lance continues to ignore all of Keith's questions as he guides him carefully to their intended destination. He had this plan well enough with his friends' help. It was something he wanted to give Keith to remember about. To remember how to be love.

After the battle on Planet Numon, Lance noticed how much the battle affected Keith and his confidence as their leader. They kept telling him that he doesn't need to take everything alone. That wasn't what the dynamics that made their team strong. Keith knew. Everyone knew. Keith was still learning since he was not prepare to become one so soon.

That was when Lance knew he had to step up and helped Keith. He would of step up and nominate himself as their new leader with slight hopes that Black would agree, but something inside of him told him not to. As if, it was telling him to guide Keith.

To guide him. To help him learn about being a team. To make him know the meaning of friendship and family. And more importantly, to love. It was something he knew he can give to Keith because that's how he feels about him. It was something that Lance can give him.

He stops when they had reach their destination and stares at Keith who still have that scowl on his face. He can imagine how those violet eyes would glare at him, but he could tell by the thin pressing of his lips. Lance smiles. He will change that curve lips direction correctly as he moves close to untie the blindfold.

Keith shook his head to ruffle out his hair and opened his eyes slow to adjust. He saw Lance's smile, but noticed the scenery behind him. No, it was around them as he turns to look around. They were in huge field of colorful stars on the ground. There were white, red, pink, purple, lavender and blue while most are yellow.

"Lance, these are-we are-" Keith looks back at him. "It's beautiful."

Lance steps up close to Keith and snakes his arms around Keith's waist with his forehead resting on his. He smiles. "I had Coran do some research and told me about this place. I told Allura about my plan and she happily agreed to it."

"Wh-why? You didn't have to do this."

"I know. I didn't have to, but I want to. Allura told me what these flowers are. They are similar to those back on Earth. Heck, this planet is similar to our home."

Keith's hand went up to Lance's cheek. "You missed home."

"I do. I miss home a lot. I miss my family so much. They have no idea how far away I am. They cannot find me as we are light-years away. We don't even know how long we went missing there."

"Lance, we'll return home. We'll defeat the Galra Empire before they can conquer Earth. I promise you that."

Lance chuckles in amusement. "Don't make promises you can't hold, but thank you, Keith."

Keith sticks his tongue out at him which Lance made a quick move to capture it. He pressed their bodies close together while his hands roamed all over Keith's body. Lance was enjoying the quiet purrs from his love inside their conjoined mouths. They broke their kiss and Lance just watches with amusement when Keith was playing coy and looked away with a rose blush across his face.

"The flowers are called Asters and they are like the vibrant stars for the land in daylight just like the stars for the sky at night. Do you know their meaning?"

"No, do tell me, Lance."

"It represents our relationship. Love and patience. Of course, we can't forget my elegance and your daintiness too."

Keith snorts and chuckles. "Not sure I want to agree on the last statement, but yes on the first one."

"What? We make one beautiful and powerful couple in the universe!"

"I can't believe I am with a sappy person."

"But you love being with me~"

"I wouldn't be if I'm not in love with you."

Keith froze. Lance blinked.

 _I did not just said that._

 _Did he just said that?_

Keith felt his face warmer and immediately turned around in embarrassment. He wanted to find a place to dig his grave because he could not believe he just said that out as if it was natural to say. It was a small yelp when Lance wraps him around from behind and pulls him close with his face nuzzling against Keith's neck.

"You do not know how much I want to hear those words from you. How much I want to know your feeling about me?"

"Lance, I-"

"Please tell me it's true. Are those words true to your feeling?"

Keith opens his mouth, but shuts it quick. A moment later, he gives a shy nod. He could feel Lance tightening his hold and small rumblings on his neck. Lance was chuckling. Why was Lance chuckling at him? Did he find it funny? It wasn't funny since he just let his emotion out only to be laugh at.

"Keith, you don't know how happy I am to hear it. I'm laughing because I thought I was still dreaming. I didn't want to wake up from this dream."

"It's not a dream, idiot."

"I know. I just want to make sure I wasn't." as Lance kisses Keith's temple. "I lo-"

"Lance?" as Keith turns his head, he watches Lance sliding off to the side and he turns around quick to catch his fall. "Lance? Lance, wake up!"

"He's not going to wake up, Red Paladin."

Keith's body stiffens immediately and his eyes watches in horror and realization of who was standing in front of them. The voice was cold and filled with malice.

"Who are you?"

"Haggar."

 _No. It can't be her. The one who experimented on Shiro and fought with Allura. The Altean witch who sided with Zarkon._

"What did you do to Lance?! Answer me!"

"I would watch how you speak, Red Paladin. I still can kill the Blue Paladin, but I've only stall his death temporary."

"What do you want?" as Keith held Lance close to his chest. He was breathing, but it was slow and his body was close to ice cold.

Haggar disappears and appears right in front of them with her eyes watching with little interest.

 _Looks like we have overlook this insignificant Blue Paladin, but significant enough to pilot the Red Lion and his measly bond with the Red Paladin._

"It's not what _I_ want."

Keith growls. "What does Lotor wants?"

 _Ah. So he does know how to catch on quick._

"If you want the Blue Paladin to live, you will bring the Lions to Planet Pollux. Prince Lotor will be waiting."

"Why should we go to the planet that pledge their loyalties to your Empire?"

"Prince Lotor has the antidote for the poison that is currently spreading inside the Blue Paladin's body. He will die in a slow, agonizing death. His flesh skin will rot and he will choke by his own blood. Do you wish to see that?"

"No." Keith did not want to see Lance die like that. He cannot let him. He doesn't want to lose him now. His violet eyes glares at Haggar.

 _He has the fierce eyes like a Galra soldier, but his spirit is so much like him._

"Bring the Lions to Planet Pollux. We will be giving you all a warm reception. But for you Red Paladin," as she appears suddenly behind him. "Prince Lotor wishes for a private audience with you. Alone."

Keith bite down on his lip. "Tell him we'll be there. I'll be there."

"Excellent." as she slips a small blue vial into Lance's pocket of his jacket. "You are bound and abide by the Paladin codes so I can trust you won't back out. This vial will stall it until your arrival. Until then, enjoy your last time with your _friends_."

Haggar disappears. Keith holds Lance tight and looks up to see Red in front of them instead.

"We're going back to the ship, Red. We are going to Planet Pollux to save Lance."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading!**


	11. Painful Realization

**Author's note:** This chapter was a quite a monster to churn out, but a good set up for what I planned for the next two chapters. To clear this out early, as far as I went with how Lotor and Lance interacts in this chapter, it won't be nothing more than Lotor teasing and torturing Lance's mind and emotions in future chapters.

The last two chapters will be the long-awaited meeting between Lotor and Keith as it will be the main set-up for the 3rd installment of the series. Expect it to be a bit dark and full of angst.

This chapter about Lance's condition was based on episode 30: The Sleeping Princess from Voltron '84 series.

* * *

 **Summary:** An intimate one-on-one interaction between Lance and Lotor.

Allura tapping a bit of her power with the help of the Black Lion.

* * *

His eyes were still closed, but his conscience stirs from sounds of muffled noises.

 ** _"No! Lance, come back!"_**

 ** _"You're lying, Coran! Lance can't be-"_**

He heard their cryings and shouting.

 _ **"I'm sorry, Paladins."**_

He wonders what was the apology for.

 _ **"It's my fault."**_

He recognized the familiar voice, but unfamiliar with its accompany sounds. It was choke up and in despair. What happened and why can't he opened his eyes? He heard their voices calling out to come back. Calling out Keith to return as he heard a slamming sound on glass and a sniffling cry. Was Keith crying? Why?

 _Wait._

His last memory was being with Keith in the fields of flowers. It was their first time alone together and wanted that day to be special. His heart flutters high when he heard Keith's confession and he was going to return the feeling when he felt something stabbed instantaneously behind him through his heart. He can only remember his body falling and the warmth from Keith on his cold body.

He was going in and out of conscience to hear broken conversation from Keith and another person. That said person happens to be evil witch, Haggar. Allura spoke about her. Why did she have to ruin on their first date? Then again, evil beings are known to ruin a perfect moment with their timings. Haggar just have to ruin their special bonding moment.

 _ **"What do you want?"**_

Keith was asking the question when he held him very close to his chest. He can feel his fear trembling throughout his body. Keith hardly expressed his fears openly, but right now, as if that witch had found an opening, the walls he had built for himself was crumbling down bit by bit.

 _ **"It's not what I want."**_

 _What the quiznak. It's not what she wants? Why the blazing hell she did this then?_

 ** _"What does Lotor wants?"_**

His blood ran cold. _Lotor? As in Prince Lotor? Zarkon's hidden child? How the quiznak-ing hell did Keith have to jump into that conclusion? Scratch that. He knew exactly why._

 ** _"If you want the Blue Paladin to live, you will bring the Lions to Planet Pollux."_**

 _No no no. He cannot let them do that. No way they will hand them over to their evil hands. He will not let them use his current predicament as their bargaining chip. Nope. No way in hell._

 ** _"Do you wish to see that?"_**

 _See what? What the hell is the witch talking about?_ His mind was swirling in many questions until he felt something wet fell on his face. Wet? Was it raining? It can't be since the sky was still clear before he passed out. Another drop fell and that's when he knew those raindrops came from two violet skies.

Keith was crying. The strong-willed and temperamental Keith Kogane was crying for him.

 _ **"Prince Lotor wishes for a private audience with you."**_

 _ **"Alone."**_

 _No_. His heart stopped and realization had dawn on him. His mind was suddenly flooded with memories of their past encounters with the Galra fleets. The memory from that particular mission on Planet Scythia.

 _ **"I'll be there."**_

 _No no NO! Keith, no! Take that back. Don't go!_

Lance's eyes opened wide with an immediate gasp for air as he sat up and shook his head with his hand on his forehead. He blinked and looked at his dark, empty surrounding. He looked at his hands and carefully got up from his seating with his eyes scanning around. His eyes stopped when he saw a familiar person lying down on a flat table, motionless, with the one being he wished he did not want to see when he woke up. It was sitting next to him with his filthy hand on his beloved's face.

He ran fast towards them, only to be stopped by an invisible wall. He pounded hard and yelling loud at them, but what loud sound he produced at his end was only silence on the other end. His blue eyes made direct contact with yellow eyes and growls vibrated in his throat when he saw that disgusting look of that amused smile. He wanted to slap that smile out, but he felt sick in his stomach when that vile being gave a quick kiss on the lips and got up to walk towards his direction.

Lance stepped back as he watched him walking through the invisible wall as if it was nothing and smiled at him.

"You must be the one." in his smooth voice.

Lance clenched his hand. "Why? Why him?!"

He moved closer to Lance with his hand outstretch, cupped his chin and staring straight at his blue eyes. "You're not bad yourself."

Lance bit his lip. "He is not a toy for your sick game."

"He was, but he's not now." as he cocked his head. "He's my prize after this game is over."

His blood boiled and instinct took over when Lance slapped his hand away and went straight to punch him, but the man dodged quickly and was already behind Lance when he grabbed his wrist and twisted hard onto his back and pulled him straight up with a strong choke hold on his neck. Lance tried to break free from his grip, but it had a very strong grip. He had underestimate him because of his physical feature.

"You are twisted, Lotor."

"It's Prince Lotor." but he gave a small shrug. "But you won't bother with a proper greeting so I will let it slide."

Lance continued to struggle. "What did you do to Keith?"

"Hmm..." He stares at the sleeping figure and back at Lance's side profile. "Nothing much. Just comforting his now broken soul thanks to you."

"You bastard."

He tsk'd. "Such vulgar word."

Lotor turned him around quick and slammed him hard to the wall by his neck. The sudden impact made Lance's breathing hitched and gasping for air as his hands clawed at Lotor's arm. It only made the constriction tighter.

"I can officially make you dead right now." as he took a side peek behind. "It would make your dear Red Paladin come to me much easier."

Lance was feeling already light-headed and ready to lose his conscience when he felt the grip loosen.

"But your sad death will only take up his mind and I don't want that to happen. That's not what I was aiming for."

Lance coughed as his body fell down like a string puppet with his hand rubbing his bruised neck and glaring up at Lotor. "How nice of you."

Lotor smiled, crouched down to his level, and his fingers went to touch his cheek. "I saw bits and pieces of his memories of you. He thought highly and protective of you. It was enough that I had to punish him."

"You sick fu-"

He was about to move when Lotor grabbed his wrists and pulled them up over his head, his free arm laid across his neck, and settled rest of his body between his legs. He hovered dangerously close to his face with his warm breath over his lips.

"To answer your very first question, Blue Paladin. He enticed my fascination until I want to possess him. Tell me, do you actually know what he is? Who he actually is?" As his words purred smoothly.

"I know he's half of your creature that wants to conquer the universe."

He grinned and licked his side mouth. "Oh Blue Paladin, that's only a tip of it. He's more than that. You human species are still so primitive and such a waste for him to be under your and the Altean Princess's care."

"Keith is not yours!"

"Oh he will be." He released his choke-hold and his hand began to wander around Lance's body. "You see _Lance_ , I've been a good prince and waited for the right moment, but the temptation has been quite unbearable."

Lance flinched more with his eyes closed from the violating touch. He felt Lotor's warm breath near his ear.

"I'm sure you have heard of my lovely reputation." Lance's eyes flew opened and gave a burning glare. Lotor chuckled. "I will make _Keith_ wither in true pleasure. Have you heard the sounds he made? Or the feels of his soft, unprotected flesh? It was truly enjoyable to the point I got a small taste back on Planet Scythia. Oh don't worry, I won't break him in too much. It's such a rare case that someone like your precious Red Paladin can hold my interest this long and making the Prince of Galra Empire to work this hard to obtain it. "

"You sick, sick bastard."

Lotor looked up and smiled back at Lance. "It has begun, Lance. It was fun chatting with you."

He released him while standing tall and dusting himself with a mischievous smile still on his face. He held one finger up.

"Consider this one a settle debt for the Red Paladin. Your dear former leader is alive and well. He will be on Planet Pollux."

"Shiro's alive?" Lance didn't want to believe it, but somehow, he had. He looked up at Lotor. "What debt are you talking about?"

He gave a soft snort. "Ask your Yellow Paladin. Oh, and thank him for the scaultrites too."

With a wave, he disappeared with a puff. Lance didn't waste time to get up and moved immediately to Keith as he looked down at his peaceful look. His hand caressed his cheek and he swooped down with his arms around Keith shoulder as he sat him up and hugged him close.

Everything he heard and saw. He cannot believe the preposterous idea that this whole plan was to take Keith away from them. Away from him. If only they caught on early. If only he caught on, then this would have been prevent. And now, Lance can't do nothing, but to watch.

* * *

 _ **"Feel your Altean magic. Bond with your Lion and you will be able to find the one you're looking for."**_

Allura looked up at the Black Lion. Those words lingered in her minds since that day. She was confused and almost forgotten until now. It came back to her like a meteorite shower when she was lost after what happened in Med Bay.

No one wanted to believe Lance died, but his heart gave out after Keith gave him the potion given by Haggar. It was supposed to stall his death, not accelerating it. They placed him quick in the cryopod, but it was too late to save him. Keith took the hardest hit and left immediately to his room where he locked himself. Pidge left afterwards to her Lion with Hunk and Coran remaining with Lance.

She didn't believe Lance died or else she would have felt some kind of broken bond with his Lion. No, this was Haggar they're going against with and she must of placed something in that vial to make it look like Lance had died.

For Allura, she wanted to clear her mind and excused herself. She wanted to check on Keith, but her thoughts were tugged by her Blue Lion. She gave a slight nod and headed towards her hanger and that was when those words came back. When she arrived, Blue was gone. Allura panicked until Blue told her that she was with Black. How did and why? So many questions to ask, but kept them in the back as she went to Black's hanger.

Black wasn't alone with Blue. Red Lion was there too, but only sat next to Blue. She could feel sadness in their purrs, but she shook her head when she heard Black's purr and strangely enough, her words. Allura moved close to one of Black's paws and instinctively place her hand on it while closing her eyes.

Her mind was pulled harshly and swirling around until everything was still and in purple. She looked around until her eyes locked on the very person they've been looking for.

"Shiro."

He smiled as he moved closer in view and stopping only a few inches in front of her. Her hands moved up in a slow, careful move onto his face when all of her bottled emotion flew open as she hugged him immediately. He stroked her bun hair and nuzzled top of her head.

"Princess Allura. It's glad to see you again."

"Oh Shiro." She buried her face further in his chest. "We missed you so much. We didn't know what happened to you. Where were you? What happened after Zarkon's defeat?"

Shiro made a gentle push on Allura's shoulder and smiled. "I missed you too and as for your questions, I really do not know. I only remember waking up after being saved by Princess Romelle and being on her ship."

"Princess Romelle? The exiled Pollux royalty?"

Shiro nodded. "Speaking of Pollux, that's where we are heading, but Princess Allura, there's something I must tell you. You need to keep Keith away from going there."

Allura gasped with her hands on her mouth while she shook her head.

"Allura? What happened?"

"Lance..." as she wiped her tears that just fell. "To save Lance, Keith agreed to go alone. Haggar did something to make Lance's heart stopped as if he died."

"No." Shiro shook his head in disbelief. "Allura, you have to stop Keith from going. It's a trap set for him."

"A trap for him? But why?"

"Romelle told me. I'm sure you have noticed too. We all know that Keith's half Galra, but the big question is why he's not in that form at all."

"Shiro, I-" Allura paused when she just remembered something that bother her on that day.

"Allura?" Shiro cocked his head.

"Remember the day that Keith and I were out to prove if Zarkon was tracking through us?"

Shiro nodded.

"I remember being confused that Red Lion found us from that far away and then your stories about how you all found the Blue Lion through Keith."

"Allura, I remember Coran mentioning how your life force is connected with the Lions and being able to pinpoint their locations." Shiro paused. "It can't be..."

"There's a very slim possibility and if it's true, then-"

Both Shiro and Allura's eyes were wide in realization.

"I will let Romelle know."

"I will let the others know, but I pray that I am able to stop Keith in time."

"Hurry, Allura." as he watched Allura turned and walking away until he yelled her. "Tell Pidge that Matt is with me."

Allura was about to respond when her mind was pulled back hard and she almost fell back until someone caught her. She looked back to see Coran and stood up immediately with her hands on his shoulder.

"Coran, Shiro's alive! I know where he is!"

Coran perked up. "That's great news, Princess! I came to tell you the good news that Lance has awoken from his sleep spell. Hunk is with him."

"That's wonderful news!" But Allura saw something else in his eyes. "Coran?"

Coran looked down and back up at Allura. "Princess, I'm sorry. I wasn't able to stop Keith."

"What do you mean, Coran?" as she pulled him close. "Where's Keith?"

"He-he went in the Green Lion with Number 5 to Planet Pollux."

Allura shook her head. "No, we have to tell them to come back. It's a trap! Shiro told me it's a trap for Keith!"

"A trap for Keith?" Coran was confused. "Why?"

"Because Lotor wants him."

Coran turned with Allura watching as they saw Lance walking in with Hunk holding him as his support.

"This whole plan was set up to-"

"capture Keith as his prize." as Lance finished her sentence.

"We have to communicate Number 5 about this."

Hunk shook his head. "I've tried, but something is jamming our communication signal."

Lance looked up at the Lions and blinked to see Yellow in the hanger. When did Yellow sneak in? "Then we are going to retrieve them."

"But Lance, you just woke up from the cryopod."

Lance shook his head. "We can't waste time now."

The Lions roared loud in the hanger which made the others spooked and watched as Black lowered herself and opened her jaw.

"Lance, Black wants you in her cockpit. She will be on autopilot so you can rest and regain your strength."

"I'm confused here."

Allura smiled. "Because she told me that Red is going to be piloting recklessly to save Keith and it's better if you don't get further injuries."

Lance snorted, but something dawn in his mind as he looked at Hunk. "Hey Hunk, have you and Keith ever met this Prince Lotor before?"

Hunk cocked his head in confusion and shook his head. "No? We never did."

"Then why he told me to thank you for the scaultrites?"

"Scaultrites?" He paused, but his face became pale fast.

"Hunk?"

"Oh my god." as Hunk looked at everyone and his voice was laced with guilt. "It can't be true. No way in hell that's who we just saved awhile back. The one who Keith helped out because it goes against the Paladin's code that we have to save those in need even if they are our enemy."

Their faces blanched.

"Hunk, tell us."

"We didn't know who he was!" as Lance could feel Hunk's trembling body. "If we knew..." Hunk hiccups. "If we knew, then this wouldn't happened..."

Lance pulled Hunk into a bear hug. "We all can drown in our sorrows and regrets later about how we didn't notice this once we get those idiots back."

Hunk chuckled and nodded.

Lance pushed him back and smiled. "Beside, I haven't finished my date and declaration of love to Keith yet. I am going to drag his ass back here and embarrassed the shit out of him in front of everyone."

Hunk laughed out loud and wiped his tears away. Allura and Coran smiled. Lance looked up at Black.

"Let's go retrieve our friends."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading!**


	12. Red to Black

**Author's note:** This chapter was a MONSTER to type out. About 4k worth.

* * *

 **Summary:** Keith's downfall.

Shiro's nightmare.

Allura's guilt.

* * *

"Keith, I like the new you and all as our leader, but your ability of a strategist still sucks."

Keith glances down at her. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Pidge. Have a better idea?"

"I do actually, but that requires the rest of the team. Not just the two of us."

"They'll come after us. I know they will."

Pidge looks up. "Keith, is there something you're not telling me here? We're a team and all, but you're like a family too."

He sighs and explains to her about his nightmare encounters with Lotor. "I was told to bring the Lions to the Pollux in exchange for Lance's life."

"Keith, wait. How can we believe that they will keep their words?"

"Why you think I'm only asking you to come with me? Green is the only one with the cloaking ability."

Pidge's mind perked up and smiled. "I get it now."

Keith smiled back. "They only said to bring, but not hand it over."

"We got that part, but how do we get in?"

"The front door."

"Really Keith?"

"Correction. I will enter in the front door and you will sneak in as I distract them."

"But Keith-"

"Pidge, trust me on this one." as he looked at the Green's monitor. "Plus, they're expecting me so I might as well use it as our advantage."

Pidge opened her mouth, but closed it immediately. There were many questions she wanted to ask, but decided not to. She wasn't sure what was going on Keith's mind, but after what happened to Lance, something clicked inside of him. With a sigh, she turned her attention back at the monitor.

* * *

Pidge loves Keith. She really do like a brother, but right now, she wants to slap his head hard until his brain rattles as she watches Keith just stroll right up to their front door of this huge castle-like building and knocks out two guards before running off in the opposite direction. It gave her enough time to sneak past in with Rover and moved in with stealth as she watched more guards heading out.

She tries to search for the main center of this low-graded technology with Victorian style surroundings that she barely noticed someone grabbed her from behind with her mouth covered and pulling her back into darkness as more guards marched by.

* * *

Keith watches while running past several guards when Pidge got inside the castle undetected. Step one of the plan worked and hoped step two will succeed too since it will be all on Pidge to take down whatever jamming their signal they used so they can communicate with the others. In doing so, they would have to come into the planet undetected which was why they took Green and of course, Pidge who was more level-headed of the group to pull this task.

He exhales quietly from his hiding place as guards were searching for him in such a sloppy manner. They weren't serious in their search as they barely comb through the small forest. He exhales again until he felt his body tingling and made a swift move to avoid a sudden attack from behind. Keith activated his shield up to block the debris and moved to his left when another attack came again. He jumped back when another came from above and then raised his shield up to block his body when it came straight towards him.

His shield gave out from the direct hit as he flew back fast and hard towards a tree with air knocked out of him as he gasped and keeping his body up by leaning back against it when his legs were about to give away. He wiped the side of his mouth and blinking out the white dots in his eyes. He shook his head and raised his Luxite blade up in a defensive stance as he watched the figure walking towards him with a glowing purple arm from the smoke of dusts. He snarled.

"Sendak."

Sendak just smiled and stopped within a foot in front of Keith. "We meet again, Red Paladin."

 _Crap_. Keith cursed his luck. He never expected to encounter Sendak here after his sudden escaped from the Castle's holding pod.

"Can't really say I'm glad to see you though after your disappearing act."

"But you see, there are things you will never understand especially with Druid magic."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm not here for small talks, Red Paladin." as Sendak held his robotic arm up and charging it up. "I have an order to capture you alive and preferably unharmed."

"No, I rather fight than surrender myself willingly."

Sendak cracks his neck side-to-side and grins. "Sad. You won't get a touching reunion with the Black Paladin then."

"Wait...what?"

It only took that small distraction for Sendak to move in quick on Keith and used his Galra arm to knock out the Luxite blade as it flew out of his hand and used his other hand to choke hold Keith by the neck. He lifted him with ease and slammed him back hard at tree. Blood coughed out of his mouth and feeling light-headed, Keith clawed on Sendak's arm. Sendak continued to apply more pressure to his grip and yanked off his helmet where he tossed it aside.

"Tsk tsk. Why the fruitless fight, my dear Red Paladin? Or should I say, _Keith_."

Keith gave only a low growl at the second voice.

"Prince Lotor." as Sendak gave a head bow.

With his arms behind his back, he strolled up next to Sendak which he gave an affirmative nod and looked at Keith with a smile.

"I only asked for a simple request and yet, you went ahead and did this. You are such a complicated catch."

Lotor lifted one hand up and with a swatting motion, Sendak released his grip on Keith and bowed at the prince with his Galran salute.

"Haggar awaits for you, Sendak."

"Yes Prince Lotor. Vrepit Sa." Sendak left.

Lotor crouched down toward Keith's level and harshly grabbed his chin while pulling him close to his face. Keith's eyes narrowed.

"You were quite charming with our first meeting, but now, you're nothing more than a temperamental weakling. I wonder why..." as Lotor hummed. "Can it be because of the Blue Paladin?"

Keith took a swing, but Lotor was faster as he stepped back and watched the Red Paladin getting up and wiping off his blood-stained lips with his sleeve. He licked his lips and wondered how his blood will taste like. He will find out later.

"You cherished him more than your Black Paladin. More than yourself even. Why is that?"

"I don't need to explain myself why."

"Of course. It looks like you're so dead on making yourself very unappealing then maybe I should focus on someone else instead." He smirked.

Keith's hands clenched. "I'm going to kill you before it happens."

"Strong words from someone with many disadvantages on his side." as Lotor moved closer to Keith with his hand up on his cheek and caressing it with his back fingers. "Give yourself up and I will set your friends and this planet free. It's a very simple proposition, Keith."

"There's always a catch with you."

Lotor chuckled. "Indeed, I always do, but you are fully aware of what I want. The question will be are you willing to? I've made my intentions quite clear."

"Why?" as Keith's breath hitched when Lotor's hand moved down along the center of his body as he snaked himself behind with his warm breathing down on the back of his neck.

"Come with me. I know about your little heritage." a lick on his neck which made Keith's body shivered. "I can tell you more about...your mother."

"My...mother?"

"Yes." with his arms wrapped around Keith's waist and pulling him back close. "You can learn more with me than with your Altean princess and Blade of Marmora. I can give you what you truly want."

Keith can feel his eyes drooping and drowsy with his muscles relaxing out to the point of losing his strength and the will to keep his mind and body awake. Why does this happened whenever he was with the Galran Prince? What did he do to him? He remembered Sendak telling him about not understanding Druid magic. Was that it?

"Yes Keith, let it all go and come with me." with his soft whispers. "I can make you feel complete."

"Feel complete?" with a drowsy response as his head fell back on Lotor's shoulder and looking up at a blurry face.

"Yes." as Lotor's hand caresses his cheek with his lips hovering close over Keith's. "Let me hear those words I've told you."

"I-I'm-" his eyes were too heavy to stay open and his mind was more calm to fight it. There was something with the way Lotor spoke in that gentle manner that made him lose his willpower to fight back. "I am yours..."

"Not exactly what I told you, but close enough." He kissed Keith as he felt a hand gripping hard on his white hair until it slid off. He smiled as he pulled back and looked at his unconscience prize.

The Red Paladin was such a fiery person. He saw how he fought with the sentries. How he flew the Red Lion. To use such bold and direct move to capture him will only give some unnecessary results. That's how his Father meet his downfall.

No, he will not be like his Father. Those fickle Lions were useless to him as they will not yield to anyone. So why should he go after those metal feline sentinels when he can go after their Paladins. After all, when he found out, were only weak fledglings (minus the Champion) with no experiences in this galactic war.

Before his unwanted stay in the Weblum's stomach, he already had plans to take down the Paladins one by one, but it was such a difficult decision to choose of who he wanted to strike down first.

He already scratched off the Black Paladin since his Father went against him and lost his control of the Black Lion. A pity that he didn't get to see the fall of his Father's demise.

That left him with four Paladins to choose. It didn't took long for his answer to come to him instead. He had a choice between the Red and Yellow Paladin, but he found himself being fascinated with the Red Paladin and knew he will be the first to fall. However, he didn't expect to form this elaborate plan until he got to know more about his prey.

Such a fragile creature. His hand wandered down Keith's chest with his eyes following with admiration and smirking how easy it was to let their guard down when they had no information about him except for Princess Romelle, but she was preoccupied with other tasks to remain focus on his plan. She can be quite clever and observant; it would have been very troublesome if she caught on early. He can't let this game end early when he was enjoying the Red Paladin's torments.

Lotor stood up with the unconscious Red Paladin in his arms and smiled in satisfaction. "Let's get you settle in your new place."

He won this game.

* * *

"You know this big guy, Shiro?"

"Sadly I do, Matt."

"Well then, let's tag team and beat him down."

Shiro raised a brow. "You know how to fight?"

Matt pulled out a small stick from his back pocket and whipped it straight out as it extended into a 4ft long staff. He smirked as he stood in an attack stance with his knees slight bent.

"I'm not like before, Shiro. I've got some training during my time with the rebellion."

Shiro position himself in the same attack stance as Matt, but with his Galra tech up and charged.

Their opponent smirked. "I have a score to settle with you, Black Paladin."

"Of course Sendak. So do I." as Shiro moved closer to Matt and spoke low for him to hear. "I'll distract him so you can go on ahead."

Before Matt could speak, the castle's lights flicker and small debris fell on them as the castle shook. The alarms blared screeching loud. Both Shiro and Matt nodded as they ran towards Sendak and simultaneously attack him from both sides. Sendak was able to block their attacks and use his brute strength to push them away as they slid back and back into their attack position. They stood in silence.

Sendak chuckled and looked over at Shiro's direction. "He was here earlier. The Red Paladin."

Shiro's eyes widen and growled at Sendak. "Where is Keith? Where is he now?"

"With Prince Lotor." as Sendak charged his arm. "But Champion, you should worry about yourself more."

With full charge, Sendak swung his arm towards Shiro as he moved into a defensive position with his arms crossed in front of him. The charging force was strong enough to send Shiro's body flying through and breaking into the castle's stone wall.

"Shiro!" as Matt ran towards his friend, but Sendak was in front of him and swung his fist at him which Matt blocked it with his staff.

Shiro coughed and shook his head as he tries to regain himself and got up slowly from the rubble. He saw Matt fighting with Sendak and was ready to help him when he felt the familiar cold aura coming from behind. He turned around slowly until a dark, shadow figure stood quietly in the middle of the room. He knew who it was. Haggar.

She looked up with her face still covered up from her hood. "I've been waiting for you, Champion."

"I don't have time for you, Haggar. Where is Lotor?"

"It's Prince Lotor and he's not here in the castle. He has no reason to when he already got what he wanted."

"You will tell us where he is now."

Haggar's face shown as she stared straight at Shiro. "You won't be able to save him. It's about time you remember your place, Champion."

With her arm straight up and pointing at Shiro, she released her dark magic bolts at him. He dodge roll her first attack and ran in a crouch position as he continues to dodge her lightning attacks. She suddenly stopped her attacks and was giving him a wicked smile. Shiro paused his steps and looked at her with a suspicion and uneasiness. He followed her gaze down and took a step back when he saw the floor lighting up in purple with unrecognized symbols glowing and spinning in circles. Shiro screamed in agonizing pain as he felt his body and soul being ripped apart.

"No! Shiro!" Matt yelled, but was pinned back hard to the wall by Sendak's robotic arm.

Haggar's smile fell when she teleported to dodge an attack from behind. Her eyes narrowed as she watched her barrier broken when the exiled princess struck her staff down on the magic circle which caused a windy explosion. At the same time, Sendak felt something landed on his shoulders and feeling a pulsing shock on his neck as his body went into shock which made him released his grip on Matt. He grabbed the offending attacker, grabbed by its collar and threw it towards Matt when he caught her flying petite body.

Haggar clicked her tongue, but smiled at Shiro who was being held by Romelle. "My experiment is complete and ready to be awaken soon."

"What...experiment?" Shiro asked with heavy breathing.

"You should know, Champion. It was inside of you the whole time."

 _ **"I cannot wait to be free."**_

Shiro shook his head. "No, no. It can't be..."

"Oh yes, Champion. Your greatest enemy is yourself." She moved next to Sendak and looked down at him with disgust. "Taken down by a small Paladin. You are still weak Sendak."

Sendak clicked his tongue with annoyance.

"Prince Lotor will see to this, but we can't keep him waiting." as Haggar placed her hand on Sendak's shoulder.

 ** _"You can't stop us. You will witness the fall of an angel soon."_**

"Wait!" with Shiro's hand reaching out. "What have you done to Keith?!"

"Keith? Where is he? What are you talking about Shiro?!" as Pidge got up along with Matt.

"It seems the Green Paladin wasn't well informed. I leave it to your precious leader for the answer, but" as Haggar looked at Romelle. "for you, exiled princess, you lost."

Haggar and Sendak disappeared with her dark magic. They stood in silence.

"Pidge..."

She ran up to him and gave a tackle hug as she buried her face on chest. Shiro was thankful for Romelle's strong hold as he almost lost his balance. He patted her head until he saw Matt and pushed Pidge back while turning her around.

"I believe there is someone you should be hugging instead of me. Someone who you've been searching for, Katie."

Pidge looked back at Shiro and then to the person in front of her. She can't believe it. He doesn't looked like the Matt she once knew before Kerberos mission. No, he looked grown up and mature. No more of his geeky look which she used to make fun of. His hair was in lighter shade of aurburn and in short, layered cut style. She noticed his body was leaning more left, but other than that, he had grew a few inches the last time she saw him.

"Matt?" She was unsure if it was really him.

He smiled. "Hi Katie."

She launched herself to her brother and hugged him tight as he held her close and rubbing her back. "I missed you. I missed you and dad so much. I never gave up looking for you."

"I know. Shiro told me. I missed you too, little gremlin."

She snorted at him, but smiled. Their moment interrupted when Shiro and Pidge heard statics from their helmet's communication. It became clear after a few statics when they heard familiar voices.

"IF YOU IDIOTS HEAR US, I HOPE YOU GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE IN YOUR LIONS BEFORE I HAVE RED DRAGGED YOU GUYS OUT.."

It was Lance. Pidge perked up and smiled. Lance is alive.

"Lance, we're coming out now. I hope Black is with you guys."

"Did something happened to Keith? Black attacked the castle the moment we entered the planet."

Pidge looked at Shiro who looked back at her. She bit her lower lip.

"Pidge?"

"Lance."

It was silent again. They heard Lance cursing.

"We can catch up later, but you guys need to come out and help us here. We can't take this robeast down with only three Lions."

"We'll be out. Hold on guys."

* * *

Romelle and Matt watched from a distant as they watched them formed Voltron and fighting with the robeast. She placed her hand on her younger brother when he stood beside her silently while watching.

"I'm so sorry, Romelle. We should have listen to you." Bandor was sniffling and wiping his tears away as he tried to stay strong.

"It's not your fault, Bandor. We all fell into their tricks."

"But Romelle, they will-" as he hushed by her fingers.

"It's better if they didn't know right now." as she looked up at their battle. "It's the only way to save our brother Avok and wake up Father and our people's eyes."

Matt looked at Romelle. "Princess, are they fighting your brother? Your brother is that robeast?"

Romelle nodded. "They believe that they can gain power by becoming it in order to destory Voltron and take over other planets. Father thought he could fool them and now, this is our punishment for our betrayal."

Bandor looked up at his sister when he felt her hand clutching on his shoulder. Matt placed his hand on her shoulder as she looked at him and shook her head.

"I don't expect forgiveness for what we did, but we can make mends for an alliance with them." She turned to Bandor. "Aren't we, my dear brother?"

Bandor nodded. "As long I have you guiding me Romelle, I will make it happen."

"If you don't mind, I will help too."

Romelle nodded. "Thank you, Matt."

They turned to watch the moment when Voltron struck the robeast right into its chest and slicing upwards as they fall back when the robeast exploded. Both Pollux royalties closed their eyes and let tears fall as they said their goodbyes to their brother.

* * *

Lotor watched in amusement when Voltron destroyed the robeast. He didn't care much with this particular one and made a very small mental appreciation for taking care of this thorn. He was humming in a certain tune that his mother used to sang when he was very young when he wanted to clear his mind while he tapped his finger on his arm. He smiled.

"You have finally return. I was wondering how long I have to wait, Haggar." as he turned to face her and Sendak.

Haggar bowed. "Beside some slight implications, I've completed my task, Prince Lotor."

"Good. We are leaving immediately." He looked at Sendak. "Take command and prepare for us to jump."

"Vrepit Sa." He bowed and left.

"How can you overlook his cowardice failures, your highness?"

"Hmm... I was going to let you deal with him after you're done with your special experiment. I only needed him for the surprise element. He has no further use."

"I appreciate your many offerings. How fares your special prisoner?"

Lotor gave a half smile. "Servants are taking special care with him. They should be done soon."

"You have spent more attention and care with him than your own royal duties."

Lotor shrugged, but paused when the room became red with alarm blaring loud. He snapped his fingers as he turned to look at the video feed.

"Report."

"It's Voltron, your highness. They are blocking our path."

Lotor laughed with his head back while combing back his hair. "Connect to them. I will personally speak with them."

"Vrepit Sa."

"They will not yield to your words."

"This is where I can prove you wrong. I can make them let us go freely without the use of force."

A line clicked in and the video showed two side-by-side images of Shiro and Allura.

"Princess Allura, it's an honor to see your lovely presence." He looked at Shiro. "I've heard many great achievements when you were in our care, Black Paladin."

"Cut your sweet talk, Lotor." Allura spoke. "We know you have our Red Paladin and we want him back."

"Why should I? You already have a replacement pilot for the Red Lion."

"He's our teammate. We don't abandon our friends."

Lotor laughed. "What touching words. However, your dear Red Paladin came on his accord and has agree to come with us willingly."

"You lied! You tricked him." as Shiro clutched on his controls hard.

"Not a trick, but the truth. As much I would love to chat with you both, but you will move aside."

Allura glared. "No."

"I hope you enjoy the taste of guilt." He snapped his fingers and another video popped up in the corner of the feed. It was the video image of Keith unconscious with his wrists tied up at each end post and he was striped down to his tight black suit. He could hear them calling out the Red Paladin's name.

"You have by the count of 10 to move or I will hand him over to our witch Haggar. I'm sure you know how she is, Champion." He smirked.

 **10.**

Shiro growled. Allura spoke up. "How is it no different from your own dirty hands?"

 **9.**

"Let's just shoot down his main engine so he can't escape!"

 **8.**

"They will kill him before we even step foot in the ship!"

 **7.**

"Keith, buddy, wake up!"

 **6.**

"We are going have to make sacrifices! We can't miss this chance to take them out!"

 **5.**

"Allura, are you crazy?! This is Keith. How can you say that?!"

 **4.**

"Guys, stop arguing!"

 **3.**

"Shiro, you are our leader. Decide quick!"

 **2.**

"Shiro?! Hey! You hear us?!"

 **1.**

"Let them go."

 **0**

Lotor smirked when he dropped his last finger. "I knew you would understand. Move."

After 20 ticks later, Voltron moved aside.

He looked at Allura as the ship past by them. "Who knew you would be that cruel to sacrifice your own Paladin? How would your Father think of you now?"

"Shut up, Lotor!"

He waved at them. "A little parting gift. A thought for you Paladins, but especially to Altean Princess."

They waited and watched when a wormhole appeared and the ship lighting up for a prepare jump.

"Knight of Altea."

Allura's body froze stiff and her hands were shaking. Lotor gave a mocking salute as their communication closed and his ship disappearing into the wormhole.

They watched her trembling in Blue's cockpit with her hands covering her hiccups and sniffling. She shook her head until her hands covered her entire face. Shiro looked to his side and opened a line to the Castle when Coran popped up on the screen.

"Coran, do you know something about Knight of Altea?"

Coran went dead silent and looked down. He looked back up and stared blank at the video.

"Yes. They were the ones who helped create the Lions with King Alfor."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **Next chapter will the last one for the series!**


	13. Never forgotten

**Author's note:** Thank you all for the kudos and comments! And here's the last short chapter of the series! It's much shorter, but it is the stepping stone for what I have in store for the next series since I will go more in depth.

I am going to take a few weeks break from this series so that I can focus and catch up on other fics I've left on hold.

* * *

 **Summary:** No more waiting for Lotor.

* * *

 _"Mother, what is Knight of Altea?"_

 _She smiled as she looked at her child. She lifted her child up on her lap and held close. The child looked up with eyes full of curiosity._

 _"I will tell you, but you must keep this a secret. Okay?"_

 _"Okay, Mother! I promised!"_

 _She nodded while stroking the child's hair. "Knight of Altea was consist of seven special beings with particular traits with the 7th one as their heart and leader of the group."_

 _"Like what kind of paa-rticlawar twaits?"_

 _"As the elements of what makes the universe."_

 _"Oooh!"_

 _"They are elite royal guards for the Altean royalties, but also, intelligent beings who helped create Voltron."_

 _"Why did they make Voitron?"_

 _She chuckled at the mispronunciation. "They wanted to create something that can defend the universe. A powerful weapon for the good."_

 _"Wow. But Mother, why keep it as a swecret?"_

 _"You see, my little blue devil, it is for your own safety."_

 _"How do you know about this so well?"_

 _She gave a sad smile and placed her finger on the child's lips. "Because I was one of them, my dear son."_

* * *

His eyes opened slow while adjusting from the lighting of his room as he sighed and lifted his head away from his hand. He hadn't that dream for a very long time until now. It was snuck back deep in his mind like he promised his mother. His faceless mother in his dream as he forgotten what she actually looked like except she was a royal Altean like Princess Allura and Romelle. They looked like her, but most Altean females usually have similar features like their eyes and ears. Other than that, it depends if they're either full or half-blooded. It doesn't matter now. She was dead.

He was resting on his luxurious plush chair when he decided to rest up after his recent hard-earned accomplishment. He smiled as he reminisced the tedious game of cat and mouse with Red Paladin. He hated the waiting part of the game.

 _Ah._ As Lotor caught himself in mid thought.

He was no longer the Red Paladin in his grasp. Just Keith. His prize after winning the game of wits; although, he was quite disappointed on how slow the Altean princess and her paladins to notice until it was too late. The exiled Pollux princess made the game more amusing with her interferences along with her rebellion group. She had their once gone Black Paladin on her side and that was something he wants to find out how he was on her side instead.

He will get the answers when his pretty prize wakes up. He pulled the pale violet veil canopy aside as he situated himself at the edge of the huge king-sized plush bed in decorative deep purple sheets and pillows. His claw hand reaching out to touch his prize's sleeping face with a hint of admiration in his eyes as it trailed along his fingers down on Keith's body.

His finger traced along the collar of Keith's purple silk midriff shirt with partial exposure of his shoulders and collar area with 3/4th sleeves. There was two thin silver wristbands for add-on accessories and has a special purpose if he wants to play a little rough with Keith later on. His finger went lower to his exposed stomach and enjoying the feel of his smooth, slightly-ripped muscles. He moved around and along the curves of Keith's small waist while humming. This little exploration was making him feel a little hard.

He slid even lower along the outside and inside of Keith's tone leg while enjoying the feel of tight pleather shorts that only covered midway of his thighs. But his favorite part to touch on Keith's body was from his thigh to his calf. He wasn't sure why, but it certainly was his favorite when Keith elicited a pleasing sound.

His ears twitched in pleasure as he positioned his whole body over Keith's sleeping form. He was tired of waiting and one way to wake up him was doing what he exceeds in. He lowered himself while spreading Keith's legs apart to make himself more comfortable and his lips went straight for the flesh between his neck and shoulder as he nibbled and sucked on. He wanted to mark him first.

Keith was twitching and moaning under him and it only enticed Lotor to go more than a warm-up. He looked up at Keith's face while touching his cheek when he saw his eyes fluttering to open and his soft moaning sounds escaping from his mouth. He kissed him with his tongue plunged inside as he tilted Keith's chin up with his fingers. Just as Lotor imagined, his mouth would be hot just like his fiery personality.

He pulled back to see violet eyes staring at him with haze and confusion as he caressed his cheek like a loving partner he might be.

With a smile and cooing voice, "Welcome to your new home, Keith. You and I have lots of catching up to do, but for now, I want to continue where we left off last time."

He captured Keith's mouth before he can speak and pulled his body close with his hand inside of his tight shorts. Keith's eyes widen and his back arched up from the sudden intrusion while he tried to squirm away from the violating touches.

Lotor waited long enough, and he was going to make sure Keith understands the consequences of making the Prince of Galra Empire wait. And he especially does not like being commanded by someone lower than him.

He smirked.

He has not forgotten their very first meeting at all and he was going to make sure Keith remembers it well as he slipped his fingers inside and twisting them harshly.

 _What a beautiful scream._

* * *

 ** _Thank you for reading and following this series! You guys are amazing!_**

 ** _See you all in Series 3: Fabula Nova Crystallis of Distant Worlds! \^0^/_**


End file.
